For the first time since Dan Quayle in 1988, a vice-presidential candidate actually did damage to his running mate in a debate. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Republican Governor Mike Pence (R-In.) squared off Tuesday night in their one and only debate — and the Clinton campaign has to be grateful there are not more.

From the opening bell of the debate, Kaine interrupted Pence nearly every time he spoke, refusing to let him finish a sentence, particularly when he was scoring points on Hillary Clinton. It was a deliberate strategy. You can’t delete Pence’s answers as easily as Hillary’s emails, but you can try to stop voters from hearing them.

But Pence patiently carried forward, unrattled, ever gentlemanly and soft spoken, racking up points on substance while Kaine kept obsessing over Donald Trump’s taxes, tossing snarky asides and hurling insults.

At one point, Kaine even charged that Trump didn’t pay income taxes 15 years ago because he didn’t want to fund our military after 9/11.

After one particular interruption and insult, Pence finally said, “That is beneath even you and Hillary Clinton and that’s pretty low.” And later, “This isn’t the old days were you can just say things and people believe it.”

Tim “Henchman” Kaine

Kaine started by calling Pence Trump’s “apprentice.” (As if it’s a smart thing to remind the public that Donald Trump parlayed his business success into a hugely successful show celebrating entrepreneurialism.) If so, Kaine was Clinton’s henchman. His task was to keep the debate away from Clinton’s failures or scandals or the sufferings of the American people or the chaos abroad and bury Donald Trump. Solutions? Who’s got time for solutions?

During what should have been a serious discussion of the threat of terrorism, Kaine’s response was “Donald Trump can’t even start a Twitter war with Miss Universe without shooting himself in the foot.” He quickly followed by declaring that “the threat of terrorism has decreased.” Apparently he was busy rehearsing attack lines the day two weekends back when Manhattan, the Jersey Shore and a Minneapolis mall were attacked by Islamic jihadists.

He kept accusing Trump of “praising Vladimir Putin as a great leader,” but when asked what went wrong with Hillary Clinton’s “reset” with Russia, his answer was simply “Vladimir Putin.” And then veered off into conspiratorial theories about Trump’s business ties to Russia. (An obvious question for Kaine would be: If Putin isn’t a strong leader, what’s that say about Clinton that he’s been able to best her and Obama so consistently?)

Kaine kept celebrating how Clinton stopped Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, leaving Pence repeatedly pointing out that the deal she initiated puts the terrorist state on a path towards getting the bomb, plus it gave them hundreds of millions of dollars, and included a ransom payment for hostages.

You might not have heard that last part because moderator Elaine Quijano of CBS News cut Pence off. It would not be the first, nor the last time.

Moderator Elaine Quijano

All you need to know about Elaine Quijano as “moderator” can be summed up in one sentence: During a discussion about cyber-security, Pence started to bring up Clinton’s email server and the national security secrets she exposed, and Quijano cut him off.

It was clear before very long that Quijano would allow Kaine to finish his attack … err, answer, but would not allow Pence to finish a thought if it pertained to Clinton’s scandals.

Soon, Pence took to rolling through her interruptions.

Pence Played the Part

Pence did not raise his voice. He didn’t throw any rhetorical bombs that will be replayed every four years. He didn’t even vigorously defend Trump, offering only, “Donald Trump is not a polished politician like you and Hillary Clinton.”

Pence simply, decisively and efficiently cleaned Kaine’s clock. And he made a case for a Trump presidency better than the candidate has himself. Or, at least, as the Washington Post suggests, a case for his own presidency.

• He spoke of the “weak and feckless leadership” that has led to so much chaos around the world.
• He offered a poetic defense of our police while condemning those who “seize upon the tragedy” of police shootings to accuse police of “implicit bias,” pleading, “Senator, please, enough of this demeaning law enforcement!”
• He talked about cutting taxes while Clinton/Kaine are itching to impose $1 trillion in new taxes.
• He explained the importance of securing our border, of the dangers of letting in refugees the FBI says we are incapable of vetting. “You’ve got to err on the side of the safety and security of the American people.”
• He explained how Clinton’s failure in Iraq led to the rise of ISIS.
• He laid out in easy to understand terms why the millions of dollars of foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation while she was Secretary of State are a big deal.
• He shared how a Trump Administration would make America united again by making America great again. When that happens, he said, “American people are going to stand tall, stand together, and we’ll have the kind of unity that’s been missing for way too long.”

Pence also offered the compelling case for life, rejecting Kaine’s (politically expedient) notion that pro-life beliefs have no business in public policy. He would go on from the heart:

What I can’t understand is with Hillary Clinton and now Senator Kaine at her side is to support a practice like partial-birth abortion. I mean, to hold to the view — and I know Senator Kaine, you hold pro-life views personally — but the very idea that a child that is almost born into the world could still have their life taken from them is just anathema to me.

Will It Matter?

From Twitter to the Los Angeles Times to the International Business Times, Mike Pence was acclaimed as the night’s big winner. But will it help Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton?

Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway sent out this wry tweet.

Ways you know @mike_pence won the #VPDebate:

1) you watched it

2) pundits are saying the VP debates don't matter

— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) October 5, 2016

But if you’re Donald Trump, you’ve just been handed a major card in your next debate, a debate that may well help decide the election. When asked about your leadership skills versus your opponent’s, your answer is simple: “I hired Mike Pence. She hired Tim Kaine.”

For a complete transcript of Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, click here, courtesy of The Washington Post.  

For a closer look at how faith played a role in last night’s debate, see “Abortion Separates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, As Does the Way They Understand Their Faith.” from The Stream.