Mike Pence Launches His 2024 Presidential Bid
Newsmax
Wednesday,
07 June 2023 06:52 AM EDT
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/pence-2024-election/2023/06/07/id/1122651/
Former
Vice President Mike Pence promised
"the best days of the greatest nation on earth are yet to come" in a video released
Wednesday formally launching his campaign for the Republican nomination for
president.
"Different
times call for different leadership," Pence, who served four years
alongside President Donald Trump, says in the video, released hours ahead of a
kickoff event in Des Moines. "Today our party and our country need a
leader that'll appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our
nature."
While
it would be "easy to stay on the sidelines," he adds, "that's
not how I was raised. That's why today, before God and my family, I'm
announcing I'm running for president of the United States."
Pence
is staking his presidential hopes on Iowa as he launches a campaign that will
make him the first vice president in modern history to take on his former
running mate.
Pence's
campaign will also test the party's appetite for a socially conservative,
mild-mannered, and religious candidate. And it will show whether Pence still
has a political future after Jan. 6, 2021, with a large portion of GOP voters
believing that the 2020 election was stolen and that Pence had the power to
reject the results of the election, won by Democrat Joe Biden.
Pence
and his advisers see Iowa — the state that will cast the first votes of the GOP
nominating calendar — as key to his potential pathway to the nomination. Its
caucus-goers include a large portion of evangelical Christian voters, whom they
see as a natural constituency for Pence. They also think Pence, who represented
Indiana in Congress and as governor, is a good personality fit with the
Midwestern state.
"We
believe the path to victory runs through Iowa and all of its 99 counties,"
said Scott Reed, co-chair of a super PAC that launched last month to support
Pence's candidacy.
Iowa
has typically been seen as a launching pad for presidential candidates,
delivering momentum, money and attention to hopefuls who win or defy
expectations. But recent past winners including Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, and
Mike Huckabee have failed to ultimately win the nomination.
Pence
faces steep challenges. He enters the race as among the best-known Republican
candidates in a crowded GOP field that now includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron
DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim
Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and former
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
But
Pence is also saddled with high unfavorable ratings.
A
CNN poll conducted last month found 45% of Republicans and Republican-leaning
independents said they would not support Pence under any circumstance. Only 16%
said the same about Trump.
Pence's
favorability has also slipped in Iowa, according to The Des Moines
Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.
Shortly
after leaving office, in June 2021, 86% of Iowa Republicans said they had a
favorable view of Pence. But the Register's March Iowa Poll showed that figure
had dropped to 66%. The poll also found Pence with higher unfavorable ratings
than all of the other candidates it asked about, including Trump and DeSantis,
with 26% of Republicans polled saying they have a "somewhat" or
"very" unfavorable view of him.
And
just 58% of Iowa evangelicals said they had favorable feelings toward Pence — a
particularly disappointing number, given his campaign's strategy.
But
Pence, who has visited Iowa more than a dozen times since leaving office, has
also received a warm welcome from voters during his trips. During a "Roast
and Ride" event over the weekend that drew a long list of 2024 candidates,
Pence stood out as the only candidate to actually mount a Harley and
participate in the event's annual motorcycle ride. When he arrived at a
barbecue at the state fairgrounds, he moved easily from table to table, warmly
greeting and chatting with attendees.
But
there remains lingering skepticism of Pence among many Republican voters who
adhere to the claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Many believe Pence was
complicit in the plot to deny Trump a second term because he refused Trump's
campaign to reject the Electoral College vote when he presided over a joint
session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, when protesters breached the U.S. Capitol.
Pence
advisers say they recognize the challenge and intend to explain to voters
directly that Pence was adhering to his constitutional duty and never had the
power to impact the vote in his ceremonial role.
"I
think it's something you have to walk straight through," said his longtime
adviser Marc Short.
Beyond
Jan. 6, his team sees their primary goal as reintroducing Pence to a country
that largely knows him as Trump's second-in-command. They want to remind voters
of his time in congressional leadership and as governor and are planning a
campaign heavy with town halls, house parties and visits to local diners and Pizza
Ranch restaurants — more intimate settings that will help voters get to know
him personally.
"People
have seen Mike Pence the vice president. I think what people are going to see
is Mike Pence the person," said Todd Hudson, the speaker of the House in Indiana
and a longtime Pence friend who has signed on to help with outreach to state
legislators. "I'm super excited for people to get to know the Mike Pence
that I know, who's funny, who's just a wonderful person... the more relaxed
Mike Pence."
Reed
believes there is a strong desire in the party for a candidate like Pence who
espouses Reagan-style conservatism, including traditional social values,
hawkish foreign policy and small government economics.
"We
think this nomination fight is going to be an epic battle for the heart and
soul of the conservative, traditional wing of the Republican Party. And Pence
is going to campaign as a classic conservative. His credentials are
unmatched," he said.
Pence
has argued that cuts to Social Security and Medicare must be on the table and
has blasted those who have questioned why the U.S. should continue to send aid
to Ukraine to counter Russian aggression.
Connecting
the Dots:
Asa Hutchinson was the Governor
of Arkansas and is a director at the Constitution
Project.
Morton H. Halperin was a
director at the Constitution Project and is a senior adviser for
the Open Society Foundations.
George Soros is
the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations and was the
chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for
the Brookings Institution (think tank).
David M. Rubenstein is the
co-chairman for the Brookings Institution (think tank), Joe
Biden spent Thanksgiving with him and a regent at the Smithsonian
Institution.
Joseph R. Biden Jr. spent
Thanksgiving with David Rubenstein, is the president for the Joe Biden
Administration and a regent at the Smithsonian Institution.
Mike Pence is a
regent for the Smithsonian Institution and was the vice president
for the Donald Trump administration.
John G. Roberts
Jr. is the chancellor for the Smithsonian Institution, the
chief justice for the U.S. Supreme Court and an honorary
member of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club (Gainesville, VA).
Vernon E. Jordan
Jr. is the president emeritus for the Robert Trent Jones Golf
Club (Gainesville, VA) and an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for
the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George Soros was the chairman
for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and is the founder &
chairman for the Open Society Foundations.
Morton H. Halperin is
a senior adviser for the Open Society Foundations, Mark Halperin’s
father (Mark Halperin is a Newsmax contributor) and was a director at
the Constitution Project.
Asa Hutchinson is
a director at the Constitution Project and was the Governor
of Arkansas.
Resources:
Past Research
Attorney
General Eric Holder Warns DOJ Employees Against Soliciting Prostitutes (Past Research on Asa Hutchinson)
SATURDAY,
APRIL 11, 2015
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2015/04/attorney-general-eric-holder-warns-doj.html
Smaller
Bites – Mike Pence (Connecting the Dots: Mike Pence, The Smithsonian
Institution, Georgetown University & The Soros Funded Brookings Institution
(think tank), All Networking) (Past Research on
Mike Pence & The Smithsonian Institution)
MONDAY,
NOVEMBER 14, 2022
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2022/11/smaller-bites-mike-pence-connecting.html
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