Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine on Thursday said Hillary Clinton thanked him for “playing good defense” and prosecuting the case against Donald Trump in Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, saying there was scant post-debate coverage about attacks on Mrs. Clinton.
“She thanked me for playing good defense,” Mr. Kaine said on CNN’s “New Day.” “I said last night, I’ve never played hockey, but there [was] a little bit of that debate where I was just a goalie, and as they were trying to render attacks, I was stopping” them.
“And so none of the post-debate coverage was really anything about attacks on Hillary Clinton,” he said.
“But she also thanked me for prosecuting the case against Donald Trump,” Mr. Kaine said. “Governor [Mike] Pence had a choice — he could have defended his running mate or not — but the fact that he didn’t is leading to I think sort of two sets of stories since the debate.”
“First, that Governor Pence wouldn’t defend Donald Trump, and if your own running mate won’t defend you, it’s kind of hard to ask people to vote for Donald Trump,” he said.
“But then secondly, the effect of both debates, I think, has led to a number of stories suggesting the GOP is really having buyer’s remorse about Donald Trump as their nominee, and frankly they should,” Mr. Kaine said.
A CNN/ORC poll showed that 48 percent of voters who watched Tuesday’s debate said GOP vice presidential nominee Mr. Pence did a better job, compared to 42 percent who said Mr. Kaine did.
Republicans have hammered Mr. Kaine for repeatedly interrupting during Tuesday’s debate, with a Trump campaign spokesman saying Wednesday morning the Clinton-Kaine ticket was looking “completely unhinged.”
Mr. Pence, for his part, said afterward that Mr. Trump and his vision for the country won the debate.
Mr. Trump said Wednesday that Mr. Pence scored a historically decisive win in the debate and that Mr. Trump himself was getting credit because the Indiana governor was arguably his first hire.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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