Tony Cook, Chelsea Schneider and Maureen Groppe

The Indianapolis Star

Mike Pence is sticking with Donald Trump in public, but in private he is holding his options open, according to sources close to him.

Pence was taking a wait-and-see approach to tonight’s presidential debate, Trump’s first public appearance since a video surfaced on Friday of Trump making lewd and sexually aggressive comments about women in 2005.

The video has become a turning point for many Republican officials. Dozens have abandoned Trump and some are calling for the billionaire businessman to step aside and let Pence run in his place. Others want Pence to leave the ticket to preserve his own reputation.

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So far, there is no talk inside the Pence campaign of leaving the ticket, sources close to Pence told IndyStar, but they say any future decisions were contingent on Trump’s performance during tonight’s debate at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Indiana governor is “feeling low and concerned, but soldiering on,” said one Republican official who is close to Pence. “Much depends on tonight's debate."

Pence is weighing the “long-term best interest of the Republican Party,” the source said. “Everything is on the table, but the assumption is that they will plan to stay in the saddle with Trump if he performs halfway well tonight.”

Pence was expected to watch the debate with his family at the governor's residence in Indianapolis.

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Pence has been sending mixed messages since Trump's video emerged.

Pence talked up Trump at a Rhode Island fundraiser on Saturday and released a full campaign schedule for next week, with stops in North Carolina, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia.

At the same time, he canceled a Saturday appearance in Wisconsin and issued a statement saying he could not condone Trump’s comments.

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“He is in an awkward position, a very awkward position,” said Andy Downs, a political scientist at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne. “The statement that came out (from Pence) demonstrated how difficult this is going to be for him. He is the vice presidential nominee for the Republican Party, and he takes that job very seriously. But he’s also incredibly offended by the comments.”

Joe Losco, political science professor at Ball State University, pointed out that an online POLITICO/Morning Consult survey released Sunday found that support for Trump fell just one point after the video was made public, compared to a similar survey taken earlier this month.

The poll also found nearly three-quarters of Republicans want party leaders to continue supporting Trump.

“This far into a campaign that’s what you would expect – that minds are already made up,” Losco said. “Really the only Republicans running away are ones that are in swing states where they may be in trouble.”

As a result, Losco said, “it makes sense from a strategic standpoint for Pence to continue to support his presidential candidate.”

Part of the dilemma for Pence is that he has built his political brand around socially conservative values that are totally at odds with the lewd things the 2005 video captured Trump saying. But another aspect of Pence’s evangelical Christian beliefs may create room to continue embracing Trump.

“One plank of the evangelical movement is they are big on redemption,” Losco said. “If Trump shows that he is truly repentant, I think that gives Pence something to hang on to, saying that Trump has redeemed himself and is a changed person.”

And there seemed to be a hint of that in Pence’s statement Saturday.

“I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them,” Pence said. “We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunity he has to show what is in his heart when he goes before the nation tomorrow night.”

Pence’s first scheduled public appearance since the video broke is in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday. The format is a town hall meeting, so Pence could get asked a question about the controversy.

After just a few weeks into the campaign in August, an 11-year-old North Carolina boy asked Pence about having to clean up after Trump.

“I’ve been watching the news lately and I’ve been noticing that you’ve been kind of softening up on Mr. Trump’s policies and words. Is this gonna be your role in the administration?” the boy asked.

Pence responded that “sometimes things don’t always come out like you mean.”

“We have different styles,” Pence said of Trump. “You might have noticed that.”

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He’s also been asked more than once on the campaign trail about Republicans who aren’t backing Trump.

Pence responded to that question in New Mexico, where the GOP governor does not support Trump, by referencing Ronald Reagan. Pence said a lot of people in the Washington establishment didn’t have much use for Reagan when he ran. But Reagan, Pence said, “changed America, and he changed the world and Donald Trump is going to do the same thing.”

After North Carolina, Pence is going Tuesday to Des Moines and Omaha, which shares a media market with part of Iowa. While top Iowa Republicans have stood by Trump since the video was published, both of Nebraska’s senators have said Trump should withdraw from the ticket in favor of Pence.

Pence is scheduled to campaign in Virginia on Wednesday, where his appearances include speaking at Liberty University. Jerry Falwell Jr., the school’s president, said Pence reached out to him after reading an editorial Falwell wrote titled: “Trump is the Churchillian leader we need.”

Falwell serves on the Trump campaign’s evangelical advisory board, but many conservative Christians were wary of Trump even before the video’s release.

When Pence visited in August an evangelical Christian college known for anti-Trump sentiment, the ChristianPost.com reported he was met with protests and small attendance.

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