Did Mike Pence help Donald Trump ‘reset’ after a tough week?

FARMVILLE, Va. — A top aide predicted that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence would help his running mate, Donald Trump, “reset” the campaign with a strong performance in the vice presidential debate against Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Tuesday night.

“It was fantastic. It was a huge win for the campaign. I think this will provide major momentum boost. I think you’ll see kind of a reset,” Nick Ayers, a senior adviser to Pence, told Yahoo News in the spin room at Longwood University.

The vice presidential debate came after a rough week for Trump that included poor reviews of his performance in the first presidential debate against Democrat Hillary Clinton, a highly publicized Twitter feud with a former beauty queen, and declining poll numbers.

At least one of Clinton’s top aides acknowledged that Pence was “smooth.” However, the Clinton staffers who spoke to reporters in the post-debate spin room all argued that Pence had avoided trying to counter Kaine’s criticisms of Trump.

John Podesta, the chairman of Clinton’s campaign, told Yahoo News that Pence needed to “come in and change the trajectory of the campaign.”

“I don’t think he did that,” he concluded. “He needed to defend Donald Trump. I certainly don’t think he did that. I think he was smooth, and so maybe the public thought that, you know, he was a reasonable candidate.”

Ayers argued that Pence “just outclassed” Kaine. Trump staffers also mocked Kaine for repeatedly interrupting Pence.

“I mean it’s essentially a tactic of tapping out, and that’s our interpretation,” Ayers said, adding that he “felt bad” for Kaine.

“Mike Pence … was laying out a clear vision, articulating clear contrasts,” Ayers said. “Gov. Pence was doing a really effective job at laying all of that out, and, to Sen. Kaine’s credit, I think he caught on to that about 15 minutes into the debate and made a decision: ‘I just can’t let Mike Pence get a word in.’”

Both candidates regularly cut each other off during the debate, but many observers suggested that Kaine’s interruptions stood out more.

Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee’s chief strategist and an adviser to the Trump campaign, told Yahoo News that he was surprised by Kaine’s interjections.

“It was odd, and I only say that because I think that Tim Kaine was known as a skilled debater coming into this,” Spicer said.

But the Clinton campaign argued that Kaine did a strong job highlighting some of Trump’s more controversial positions. They pointed to multiple instances during the debate in which Pence falsely denied things that his running mate has in fact said, to make the case that the governor had failed to blunt Kaine’s attacks on Trump.

“Mike Pence just took a walk. He decided not to defend Mr. Trump,” Podesta said.

Pence denied that Trump has called for a “deportation force” for people who are in the United States illegally, as well as punishment for women who seek abortions. In both cases, Trump has supported these positions publicly, though he has walked back his comments on abortion.

Jennifer Palmieri, the Clinton campaign’s communications director, argued that Pence’s attempt to sidestep some of Trump’s more provocative remarks indicated that he is more concerned with his future political ambitions than in supporting his running mate.

“I think Mike Pence decided that this debate was going to be an audition for him for 2020, because he refused to defend anything — any of the kind of offensive comments Donald Trump has made,” said Palmieri.

The Trump campaign has said it hopes Pence can help woo voters who are wary of Trump’s aggressive demeanor and lack of political experience. Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, told Yahoo News that the debate was a good illustration of how Trump and Pence “communicate with America” in different ways.

Conway went on to praise Pence as an “amazing communicator.” She said that Trump’s VP pick was “turning out to be one of our best surrogates.”

Trump’s tough week followed a period in which he was steadily chipping away at Clinton’s lead in the polls. His campaign attributed this to a “more disciplined” approach that came after several staff changes, including Conway’s arrival on the team.

Many observers have suggested that Conway has helped rein Trump in. Fox News host Megyn Kelly, whom Trump has taken jabs at on and off ever since launching his campaign last year, went on the air just before the debate and quipped that Conway was controlling Trump’s tweets. Trump tweaked Kelly for this comment as he live-tweeted the debate.

Conway told Yahoo News that she would never want to take Trump’s phone from him or stop him from tweeting. “I wouldn’t do that to him. I respect him too much to do that,” Conway said. “But I do appreciate when he talks about the issues.”