MORAINE, Ohio - Nobody knows the name of the guy who cleans up after the elephant parade. Except in Donald Trump's controversy-a-day campaign for president, his name is running mate Mike Pence. On Wednesday, the Indiana governor was handed the shovel to smooth over a slight of state Rep. Niraj Antani, in whose district Pence made his second Ohio campaign appearance since the GOP convention.

MORAINE, Ohio � Nobody knows the name of the guy who cleans up after the elephant parade.

Except in Donald Trump's controversy-a-day campaign for president, his name is running mate Mike Pence.

On Wednesday, the Indiana governor was handed the shovel to smooth over a slight of state Rep. Niraj Antani, in whose district Pence made his second Ohio campaign appearance since the GOP convention.

Antani was supposed to sit in the VIP section for the rally at a banquet hall just south of Dayton. But the Trump campaign, reportedly angered over an Antani tweet, made the only Indian-American Republican ever elected to state office in Ohio history stand in the back.

It fell to Pence to call Antani afterward and try to make amends.

The state rep tweeted his gratitude: "Thanks to Governor @mike_pence for the phone call. Very kind and appreciated."

The Antani tweet that the Trump campaign apparently ordered him to remove was posted last Thursday: "FWIW, knocking doors in most affluent part of my GOP heavy district, and not one of them has been happy with Trump. All pro @JohnKasich." Antani was an active campaigner for the Ohio governor's presidential run, including spending several days in New Hampshire last winter.

The tweet was no longer posted Wednesday night.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

It was far from the first time Pence cleaned up for the nominee. He settled ruffled GOP feathers by endorsing party stalwarts Paul Ryan, the House speaker; John McCain, an Arizona senator; and Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire senator, after Trump initially refused to back them.

On Tuesday, Pence was forced to defend Trump's comment during a North Carolina rally: "Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges � nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know," Trump said.

Clinton and supporters blasted the remark as a call to violence by Trump.

But Pence told reporters a few hours after the comment that what Trump "is clearly saying is that people who cherish that right, who believe that firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens makes our communities more safe, not less safe, should be involved in the political process and let their voice be heard."

When a reporter asked Tuesday whether Trump was implying violence, Pence replied: "Of course not, no. Donald Trump is urging people around this country to act in a manner consistent with their convictions in the course of this election, and people who cherish the Second Amendment have a very clear choice in this election."

Pence bracketed Columbus with stops near Dayton and Cambridge on Wednesday.

His message was much the same in both locales � and both times drew the anti-Clinton rallying cry of "Lock Her Up! Lock Her Up!"

In Cambridge, Pence mentioned "you have a great governor here," and the reference to Kasich drew loud boos. He ignored them and plowed on with his half-hour speech.

�Ohio�s going to loom large in this election and therefore in the destiny of this nation,� Pence told a few hundred that easily fit into a civic center in the Guernsey County seat.

Despite his reputation as a candidate who dislikes going negative, he poured on the criticism of Clinton and President Barack Obama.

Despite Obama�s strong denial, Pence accused the administration of paying $400 million to Iran to free hostages �in violation of generations of policy of this country against paying ransoms."

Pence added loudly, �When Donald Trump is president, we won�t be paying ransom to terrorists."

In a Democratic pre-buttal to Pence's appearance, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley went after Trump: "I think he thinks this (election) process and � democracy is some sort of a joke. And I find that insulting, frankly, as someone who works hard every day to make sure people have access to the ballot box."

She called the 2016 election "the most important in decades."

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that Pence suggested in a radio interview on Monday that Trump�s proposed ban on Muslims from entering the country could be broadened to include other religions, not just Muslims.

In an interview with Charlie Sykes, a Wisconsin talk-radio host, Sykes pressed Pence on his running mate�s Muslim ban.

Pence, seeming to go beyond the policy proposed by Trump, did not rule out barring immigrants from other religions.

��That�s what Donald Trump and I are calling for now, is to have a temporary suspension of immigration from countries or territories compromised by terrorism, and I believe that�s an appropriate action given the horrendous, horrendous violence that we see,�� he told Sykes.

drowland@dispatch.com

@darreldrowland