GOP publishes victory declaration before VP debate even starts
Though there was little doubt which candidate each official party website would be declaring the winner after Tuesday evening’s vice presidential debate, the Republican National Committee got off to an early start.
Around 7:00 p.m. ET, Twitter users started flagging stories already on GOP.com that praised Donald Trump’s running mate Mike Pence for his clear victory over opponent Tim Kaine. The story — which has since been deleted — read:
“Mike Pence made the most of his opportunity to debate Hillary’s VP pick Tim Kaine. The other clear winner from tonight’s debate was Donald Trump. His running mate perfectly shared Trump’s vision to make America great again and that message is resonating with Americans all across the country.”
“Americans from all across the country tuned in to watch the one and only vice presidential debate. During the debate we helped fact check and monitor the conversation in real time @GOP. The consensus was clear after the dust settled, Mike Pence was the clear winner of the debate.”
The page also predicted that the top moments of Pence’s night were “Economy” and “Highlighting Hillary’s scandals.”
GOP just posted the “results” of tonight’s VP debate, hours before it startedhttps://t.co/ueQ1ZU6xxP pic.twitter.com/vQJERiJVMf
— jer (@JerMeansWell) October 4, 2016
That was not the only story published and then deleted Tuesday night. There were also posts entitled “5 Questions Tim Kaine was NOT Asked” and “10 Things Voters Are Saying About the Debate.” While it is certainly not unusual for campaigns or news organizations to prepare stories for publication during or immediately after an event, stories going live hours early represents another misstep in a tough stretch for the Trump campaign.
The stories have all been deleted from the official GOP website.
