GOP VP Candidate Mike Pence Rallies Virginians Ahead of VP Debate

On the eve of the first vice presidential debate, in a visit to Ashland, Virginia, GOP VP nominee Mike Pence spent the night blasting opposing Democrat VP candidate Tim Kaine.

Appearing at Cox Transportation Services in Ashland, Pence noted that he was preparing to meet his audience’s former governor.

“Tomorrow morning I’m going to be heading over to Farmville, at Longwood University, a little bit of a debate with your governor — your former governor — and your senator, Tim Kaine,” Pence said from the dais as the crowd to unleashed boos at the mention of Tim Kaine’s name.

Pence has generally ignored Kaine in his stump speeches across the country, and for much of his appearance he delivered his usual speech extolling the virtues of his running mate, Donald Trump. But as he sets his mind to the upcoming debate, the Indiana Governor and VP candidate took time out to slam Kaine for his failures.

The governor said he was looking forward to meeting Kaine to compare records. But he went on to give the crowd a first peek at some of his tactics, telling them Kaine wanted to raise taxes by “four billion.” He also slammed Kaine for failing to pass an important roads bill.

In contrast, Pence noted that in Indiana, the “crossroads of America,” he “signed into law $2.5 billion in roads and bridges and infrastructure.”

“He left the state $2 billion in the hole,” Pence said of Kaine’s record. “I’m proud to say we’ve got the largest surplus in Indiana history, more than $2 billion in the bank,” he said of his own.

The Indiana Governor went on to insist that his record in Indiana is “exactly the kind of leadership that Donald Trump is going to bring to the White House with exactly the same results.”

But Pence was not done criticizing the Democrat ticket. Speaking of Hillary Clinton, he also told his supporters that the Democrats had “nominated someone with a stale agenda and the most predictable of names.”

Pence indulged in a little bit of media bashing, as well.

“The media is so busy parsing every word that Donald Trump said in the last thirty minutes, they’ve been ignoring what the Clintons have been up to for the last thirty years,” Pence has said.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.