HENDERSON, Nev. -- Donald Trump's campaign Wednesday hailed Mike Pence's debate performance Tuesday night as proof of Trump's readiness for the presidency, even as Democrats ridiculed Pence for failing to defend Trump's ideas and policies.
Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, argued on several television programs that Pence, the governor of Indiana and Trump's vice presidential running mate, had vindicated Trump -- at the top of the Republican ticket -- during his debate with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.
Kaine, Hillary Clinton's vice presidential running mate, mounted an insistent and prodding attack on Trump and Pence during the 90-minute debate, frequently interrupting Pence to demand that he defend Trump's statements.
Pence sidestepped those demands, repeatedly asserting that Trump had not said things that he had said, and delivering a Republican message attacking taxes and business regulation.
[INTERACTIVE: The 2016 election in Arkansas]
On Wednesday, Pence campaigned in Harrisonburg, Va., where Ed Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, introduced him as "one heck of a debater." Pence said Trump had called to congratulate him and had called the night a win for the top of the ticket.
"From where I sat, Donald Trump won the debate," Pence said. "Donald Trump's vision to make America great again won the debate." Pence repeated his allegation, from the debate, that Kaine and Clinton have been throwing "an avalanche of insults" in the campaign.
Conway said on Fox News that Pence had highlighted "the great judgment and leadership that Donald Trump has exercised" in choosing a running mate.
Democrats dismissed that notion Wednesday. Acknowledging that Pence had been a more placid performer than Kaine, they countered that Kaine had successfully trained his fire on Trump and exposed Pence as incapable of defending Trump on the merits.
On the stump in Ohio, former President Bill Clinton chuckled and described Pence as having tried to "shimmy out of a discussion" on basic economic issues like the minimum wage and equal pay for women. Of Kaine, the former president said he "did just fine."
Democrats assailed Pence for having misrepresented the issue positions and past comments of Trump. Hillary Clinton's campaign released a video showing Pence's denials alongside clips of Trump's remarks. The video concludes by saying, "It's OK, Mike. We'd have a hard time defending him, too."
John Podesta, chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said on the MSNBC program Morning Joe that Pence had been "smooth," but ultimately ineffective in the debate. Kaine's goal, Podesta said, was to "challenge Mike Pence to defend Donald Trump, and Mike Pence didn't do it."
Podesta suggested that Pence might be more interested in protecting his own political future than winning the current election.
"Mike Pence looked more like he was looking at 2020 than 2016," he said, adding, "Tim got the job done."
Conway expressed confidence Wednesday that Trump would offer a "powerful performance" in the second presidential debate, a town-hall-style discussion set for Sunday at Washington University in St. Louis. She likened the format to Trump's rallies, though Trump rarely takes questions from members of his audience or engages in traditional retail politics.
Though Trump was on the campaign trail Wednesday, Conway said he was preparing "constantly." Trump planned his own town-hall set in New Hampshire for today.
Clinton was deep in debate preparation Wednesday at her Washington home. She was huddling with Podesta, top policy aid Jake Sullivan and her debate advisers.
Both campaigns argued that Sunday's format -- in which voters ask questions -- benefits their candidates. Conway cited Trump's experience engaging throngs of supporters at rallies, while Podesta pointed to Clinton's long history of holding her own town-hall events.
Tuesday's vice presidential debate was viewed by 37 million people, according to the Nielsen company. That number was down sharply from the estimated 50 million viewers who saw Republican challenger Paul Ryan debate Vice President Joe Biden in 2012. In 2008, 70 million people watched GOP candidate Sarah Palin debate Biden.
Regarding Putin
Trump, meanwhile, pushed back Wednesday on Clinton's accusation that he's cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Picking up where Pence left off, he said his relationship with Russia's leader would be determined by how Moscow responds to strong U.S. leadership under a Trump administration.
"They say Donald Trump loves Putin. I don't love, I don't hate. We'll see how it works," Trump said at a rally outside Las Vegas.
Clinton on Wednesday said Trump has "this weird fascination with dictators."
"My opponent seems not to know the difference between an ally and adversary," Clinton said at an evening fundraiser in Washington. "There seems to be some misunderstanding about what it means to have a dictatorship and provide leadership."
Clinton said Pence "just bobbed and weaved" when he was asked during the debate to defend Trump's provocative statements "because, after all, trying to defend Donald Trump is an impossible task."
The businessman sought to take away an argument that Clinton and Kaine have ramped up in the final weeks of the campaign as they work to portray Trump as dangerous for U.S. interests overseas.
While U.S.-Russia relations nose-dive over failed diplomacy in Syria, Trump has complimented Putin, calling him a strong leader and even encouraging him to track down Clinton's missing emails, though Trump later said he was being sarcastic.
"You guys love Russia," Kaine said in Tuesday's debate. "You both have said Vladimir Putin is a better leader than the president."
In a forceful rebuke, Pence described Putin as a "small and bullying leader," but blamed Clinton and President Barack Obama for a "weak and feckless" foreign policy that had awakened Moscow's aggression in Ukraine and meddling in the Middle East.
The U.S. and Russia back opposing sides in Syria's civil war, but both are fighting the Islamic State extremist group there. The U.S. cut off talks with Russia about Syria this week after the latest cease-fire collapsed, blaming Russia for failing to fulfill its commitments under the deal.
"I can say this: If we get along and Russia went out with us and knocked the hell out of ISIS, that's OK with me folks," Trump said, using an acronym for the extremist group.
Trump took a victory lap for Pence's performance, which he called "phenomenal." Trump said it was "the single most decisive victory in the history of VP debates."
"I'm getting a lot of credit, because that's really my first so-called choice, that was my first hire," Trump said of Pence.
Campaigning for Clinton in Wisconsin, former Democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders urged party unity, while also delivering a sharp rebuke of Trump on Wednesday.
"We are not going to allow Donald Trump to divide us up," Sanders told about 1,200 people. Sanders' campaign stop comes as Trump has put a renewed focus on Wisconsin, a state that sided with Sanders over Clinton during primary voting six months ago.
Sanders made a couple of stops at University of Minnesota campuses Tuesday before hitting Iowa and Wisconsin on Wednesday.
Sanders reiterated his support of Clinton's plans to allow student loan debt to be refinanced and to make tuition free for families earning up to $125,000. Russ Feingold, the Democratic candidate for Senate who introduced Sanders, urged young people to vote for Clinton to prevent "right-wingers" from controlling the Supreme Court for a generation.
Feingold served with Sanders in the Senate and is running in a rematch this year against Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who defeated Feingold in 2010.
Sanders touted his and Clinton's support for raising the minimum wage, protecting the environment, curbing the influence of money in politics and ensuring equal pay for women. He saved his harshest words for Trump, saying "we will not accept insults to Latinos, to Mexicans. We will not accept insults to Muslims, we will not sit back and allow women to be called slobs."
That particular statement came after Pence, in Tuesday's debate, referred to "that Mexican thing" as he tried to brush aside criticism of Trump's comments about immigrants.
When Kaine pressed Pence on Trump's remarks last year comparing Mexican immigrants to rapists, Pence interjected, "Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again."
By Wednesday, #ThatMexicanThing was trending on Twitter as Hispanics widely made fun of the remark with humorous meme and gif images, and satirical versions of Trump's "Make America Great Again" red cap. Pence's words also led to the creation of a Web address, ThatMexicanThing.com, that redirects visitors to Clinton's campaign website.
A leading House Democrat, U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra of California, said Pence's words brought back painful memories.
"As the son of immigrants, I've lived with the 'Mexican thing' all my life," Becerra said. "I never would have believed that into my 50s I would witness a candidate for president and vice president mainstreaming the same hurtful rhetoric."
There was no immediate comment from the Trump-Pence campaign about criticism of Pence's remark. The campaign has been trying to increase its appeal to Hispanic and other minority groups who tend to favor Democrats and could prove pivotal in key states, including Florida.
Information for this article was contributed by Alexander Burns of The New York Times; by Jonathan Lemire, Josh Lederman, Bill Barrow, Jill Colvin, Ken Thomas, Russell Contreras and Amy Taxin of The Associated Press.
A Section on 10/06/2016