With Pence, Trump plays to win The running mate is experienced, disciplined, conservative – everything the GOP nominee is not.

In picking Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate, Donald Trump showed he’s capable of listening to more than his own gut, that he can forgive past sins and, most of all, that he actually wants to win.

A businessman who has carefully built a public image of himself as an instinctive decision maker, Trump clearly labored over this decision, appearing to vacillate as he ran his final choices through a weeklong made-for-TV melodrama of public appearances, private meetings and family get-togethers, all of which were leaked to the media.


The final episode that played out over the past 24 hours was, not surprisingly, crammed full of twists and turns: Trump hastily canceling Friday’s scheduled rollout after Thursday’s terror attack in France, pushing back on myriad early reports of Pence’s selection in television interviews Thursday afternoon, then tweeting the news Friday morning (10 minutes before the canceled news conference with Pence was originally set to take place).

In the end, though, the final scene belied the setup: a no-drama politician emerging as the winner of Trump’s drama-filled veepstakes.

Ultimately, despite his closer relationships with Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie, Trump listened to his closest advisers and went with the least flashy choice—not that there were any breakout stars or stellar performers in his final three of B-list Republicans.

Neither Gingrich, the thrice-married 73-year-old, the scandal-tarnished Christie or Pence, who polls showed to be in an uncertain reelection fight in a safely red state, offered much in terms of broadening the appeal of an all-white GOP ticket. Many of the party’s brightest up-and-comers, from Marco Rubio to Joni Ernst, had already removed themselves from the running.

Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman and the most experienced political operative in his inner circle, had been pushing for Pence – even though the Indiana governor originally endorsed rival Ted Cruz just before his home state primary – as a running mate who could help unite a fractured Republican coalition and strengthen Trump’s standing in the Midwest, a region critical to his candidacy. Many top campaign staffers saw things the same way.

Manafort, meanwhile, was opposed to adding Gingrich to the ticket, worried about the longtime politician’s candor and loquaciousness becoming a distraction and his personal baggage. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and de facto campaign manager at the moment, was vehemently opposed to Christie, the former federal prosecutor who put his father in prison a decade ago.

That left Pence, an option everyone could accept—even Trump, who is much closer with Gingrich and Christie, who he’s known for years. Trump first met Pence just months ago. Not only had the Indiana governor halfheartedly endorsed Cruz, he also disagrees with Trump on his top issue of trade; and he has called Trump’s proposed Muslim ban “unconstitutional.”

But Trump came to understand that he needed something other than an attack dog, camaraderie with his sidekick or a No. 2 capable of delivering a state.

He needed legitimacy and balance.

“The Pence pick will suggest to many that Trump is serious about governing, and listens to political advice,” said Bruce Haynes, a GOP consultant in Washington. “Pence is a solid, strong pick with experience in foreign affairs and domestic policy. He’s also been a governor and understands executive power and decision-making.”

Even Gingrich, in a video broadcast on Facebook Thursday, acknowledged his rival's potential to temper Trump's big-city flair by pairing him with a "relatively stable, more normal person."

Once a darling of social conservatives, Pence is everything Trump’s not: conventional, disciplined and experienced. In fact, he’s downright boring next to Trump—and he could make the billionaire seem slightly more believable as a potential president and allay concerns about his lack of political experience.

“It fills the experience need,” said Charlie Black, a longtime GOP lobbyist in Washington. “He was in Congress, on the foreign relations committee, he’s traveled the world. And he is conservative without being threatening and getting in people’s face.”

Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Democrats are already working to define Pence, unknown to most of the country, as a conservative who is far out of the mainstream, especially on women’s rights and gay rights. But Trump, unlike a typical nominee looking to broaden their appeal to the general electorate, may need Pence more to solidify his standing with conservatives.

“Trump’s profile is not the normal partisan profile. He’s getting 80 percent of Republicans, but has 20 percent holding back,” Black said. “Pence can help with that and maybe even bring in some of those conservative donors who’ve been holding back. Trump is getting a lot of blue-collar Democrats, so he’s less in need of a running mate with crossover appeal.”

The pick drew wide praise Friday from mainstream Republicans, with everyone from Speaker Paul Ryan to his predecessor John Boehner and Florida Sen. Rubio, who lashed out at Trump in the final weeks of his own campaign, signaling their support for the choice.

Ryan, who has been one of Trump’s toughest Republican critics in the period between his securing the nomination and officially accepting it next week, was notably effusive about Pence—an indication of just how much mainstream Republicans viewed him as the best of Trump’s limited VP options and as a running mate who is, in many ways, the antithesis of the presidential nominee.

“Mike Pence comes from the heart of the conservative movement—and the heart of America,” Ryan said in a statement Friday. “I can think of no better choice for our vice-presidential candidate. We need someone who is steady and secure in his principles, someone who can cut through the noise and make a compelling case for conservatism. Mike Pence is that man.”



