Pence stumps for Trump in Raleigh

by Matt Caulder, Capitol Connection, August 4, 2016.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence stumped for his running mate, Republican nominee Donald Trump, at a town hall meeting in Raleigh Thursday – extolling his team’s plan to repeal Obamacare, cut taxes and pay down the growing national debt.

Pence told a crowd of about 300 that, when he got the call about being the GOP candidate for vice president from Trump, he did not hesitate to accept his offer, as he had already discussed the possibility and prayed over the choice with his wife Karen.

“I joined this campaign in a heartbeat,” he said. “I got the phone call 11 o’clock at night. Karen was at my side and we had a little time to reflect and pray about it if the phone was to ring.”

“We picked it up and I heard that familiar voice and I said yes, because you have nominated a man for president who never quits, never backs down. He is a fighter, he is a winner and up until just a short time ago it seemed like he was out there all on his own, but now this party is united, this movement is united and we are going to make Donald Trump the next president of the United States of America.”

Pence spoke about the growing instability in the Middle East under President Obama’s presidency, with Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in his administration, and about Trump’s support for law enforcement and the military.

He spoke about repealing Obamacare and giving power over Medicaid back to the states and improving health care for veterans in the country.

But in addition to covering the issues Pence also talked about Trump, the man, as well.

“He’s a doer in a game usually reserved for talkers, and when Donald Trump does his talking he doesn’t go tip-toeing around thousands of rules of political correctness,” he said. “He’s distinctly American.”

Pence said that Trump’s success so far would only be possible in America in the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”

In addition to building up his running mate, Pence also had words for Clinton as well.

“People in both parties are restless, we’re restless for change, we are restless to break free from the failed status quo in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “And Democrats just nominated someone who literally represents everything this country is tired of. So let me say to my friends here in Raleigh, my friends here in North Carolina, let’s decide here and now this morning, that for the sake of our security, for the sake of our prosperity, for the sake of all of our God-given liberties, that Hillary Clinton will never be elected president of the United States of America.”

Pence said that American people can elect “someone who literally personifies the failed establishment in Washington D.C.” or a candidate who is a “leader who will fight every day to make America great again.”

Pence’s visit to North Carolina will certainly not be the last time the Trump campaign visits what has become one of the battleground states in this race.

With 15 electoral votes, and the state’s history of going blue in 2008 and red in 2012, both candidates will be fighting hard for North Carolina votes leading up to November.

In a recent flash poll conducted by the Raleigh-based conservative think tank, the Civitas Institute, Trump leads Clinton 46 percent to 42 percent.

http://nccapitolconnection.com/2016/08/04/pence-stumps-for-trump-in-raleigh/