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      Democratic candidate for U.S. vice-president Tim Kaine gestures to his Republican counterpart, Mike Pence, after the vice-presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Va., on Tuesday.

      Pence-Kaine debate lively, but a virtual tie

      Re: Pence struggles to clean up Trump’s mess, Oct. 5

      Pence struggles to clean up Trump’s mess, Oct. 5

      This debate painfully reminded me of how Ronald Reagan used superbly acted platitudes to deflect whatever facts Walter Mondale could throw at him.

      Mike Pence, a radio talk-show host before he became governor of Indiana, spoke in a deeper voice, and with his steely Harper hair, deep-set, unblinking eyes, looked like he was hewn out of granite. For a religious man, he was very adept at prevaricating.

      By contrast, Tim Kaine spoke, not to the American people, but to moderator Elaine Quijano. The overall effect was to make Pence seem much stronger than Kaine. As long as the Democrats are overly cautious about directly addressing the gun epidemic in the U.S., they allow the Republicans to absurdly claim that only they can keep America safe.

      Trump and Pence seem to blame all violent crime on “illegal aliens,” a claim straight out of The X-Files. Stephen Harper tried, unsuccessfully, to boil down all threats to public safety to “jihadis.”

      Ron Charach, Toronto

      There were two losers and one winner in the debates. The moderator lost control of the debate a few times. The public saw two credible candidates that are better than the presidential candidates.

      The winner was probably Mike Pence because he will definitely be a potential presidential candidate in four years.

      Douglas Cornish, Ottawa

      The Tim Kaine-Mike Pence U.S. vice-presidential debate was not only surprisingly highly confrontational and contentious (far more heated and lively than people expected), but the two candidates constantly interrupted one another (particularly Kaine) and often didn’t directly answer the questions that were asked of them.

      But both seemed very well-prepared, polished, composed, strong, articulate and knowledgeable, and spent most of the time discussing the issues rather than on personal attacks.

      Pence spent more time promoting conservative social and political issues and attacking Hillary Clinton than he did in defending Donald Trump (often denying that Trump even said things that he obviously did) and seemed far more presidential than his running mate.

      But the debate was a virtual tie, which won’t help Trump in the general election, particularly since Pence didn’t devote much time to defending Trump.

      Kenneth L. Zimmerman, Huntington Beach, California

      What I and I suspect many thousands of Canadians cannot understand is how a country like the United States, with a population in excess of 300 million and some of the brightest minds on the planet, cannot find two suitable candidates to run for the presidency.

      Neither Trump nor Clinton inspires confidence . . . even their running mates seem to have more gravitas and grasp of the issues.

      Kenneth Price, Oakville

      I am a long-time customer and reader of the Star, but I am beyond sick of opening my morning paper and seeing your big news about Donald Trump. If I wanted your type of coverage I would watch CNN. The U.S.A. media does enough to promote their own biases. We surely have enough Canadian content for this little paper.

      Joan Brown, City of Kawartha Lakes

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