The conventional wisdom that Indiana Governor Mike Pence would be the GOP vice presidential nominee with the highest upside and the lowest downside risk for Donald Trump took hold as soon as Pence entered consideration. “Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been unconventional, but naming Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as Trump’s running mate would be a quite conventional move,” wrote Andrew Downs, the director of the Center for Indiana Politics, in The Washington Post. “Pence would balance the ticket in almost every way.”

There are few dissenters to this view. But it is less a testament to any consensus that Pence is a good politician, or a good fit for Trump, than to the unusual terribleness of the other candidates under consideration.

Unlike New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Pence isn’t weighed down by dump trucks full of legal or ethical dirt. Pence is an evangelical, and as far as we know he’s not a philandering one. He was once considered a factional leader of the ideological right. And he has enough recent experience in Congress, and scandal-free governing experience in Indiana, to help Trump calm jittery Republican nerves and win more full-throated endorsements from party leaders and officials.

If we’re not being gamed—if Trump really has selected Pence—the real significance is that Trump won’t let himself lose the election through complete neglect. Trump is probably too unpopular to win anyhow, but he definitely can’t if he makes literally no concessions to Republicans and movement conservatives.

A dependable sort like Pence is a necessity for Trump, even if he’s not ultimately sufficient. But that is the complete extent to which Pence can be thought of as an asset.