VP Debate Issues: Social, Cultural, Tax & Spend

Tonight, I look for social issues, cultural competency, taxes, and spending to be highlighted, between these two VP picks and between their respective campaigns. 

Certainly, Governor Pence's own abysmal record in Indiana will be under the microscope. He passed one of the country’s first Religious Freedom Restoration acts, creating a cultural clash in the heartland that cost Hoosier jobs and convention business for Indianapolis due to opening the door for discrimination against the LGBT community.

Also, Senator Kaine’s evolving stances on abortion and marriage equality coupled with his Jesuit missionary work will provide an equally compelling point of comparison to that of Pence, who passed restrictions on abortion and who pushed for a gay marriage ban amendment to the Indiana State constitution.

+Wonderful World

Besides the intersection of cultural and social issues, look for Pence to buttress the flailing Trump campaign, who has spent the last week creating self-inflicted wounds over a war of tweets and words with the former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado. Also, look for Pence to defend Trump over his curiously leaked tax returns, exposing nearly a billion dollars worth of losses in one year, which could have allowed him to not pay any taxes in the 18 subsequent years.

For Kaine, a relative unknown on the national stage, his goals are to not make any big blunders, to highlight the social and cultural disparities between the campaigns, and to shine a spotlight on the policies Hillary has been unable to accomplish over the last month. 

+Wonderful World

Watch for Kaine to highlight Hillary’s tax and investment policies that juxtapose Trump’s lack of transparency by not releasing his tax returns, losing a billion in one year, and with Trump’s tax plan that gives giant tax breaks to billionaires.

Watch for Pence to be the stable, concerned voice of conservative principles that will highlight the Supreme Court, social values, and out of control tax and spending that would come with a Clinton presidency. 

With the high unfavorables of both leading names on both tickets, who knows what lens, what visibility, and what scrutiny this VP debate and these VP picks might be under this evening. Considering over 80 million tuned in last week for the first Clinton-Trump head to head debate, anything is possible in this race.