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7/27/2019 Townhall Magazine September 2013 Cover Story
1/6
38 TOWNHALL September 2013
!"#
$%'$(!"#(
)'*+,
$-!-.#Indiana Gov. Mike Pence may be the GOPs bestchance at the White House in 2016, but for now,
his priorities are closer to home.
BY S.E. CUPP
Politics
7/27/2019 Townhall Magazine September 2013 Cover Story
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September 2013 TOWNHALL39
(AP/Michael Conro)
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40 TOWNHALL September 2013
Roads are big business in Indiana, and always have been. A
decade after the founding of the capitol city of Indianapolis,
the old east-west National Road, now U.S. Route 40, cut its
way through the town, connecting Atlantic City, N.J., to the
uncharted Wild West. Meridian Street, which runs north
through the middle of the city, splits the state in two and
originally ran all the way from Michigan to Alabama. The citysnickname is the Circle City for the giant circle where Meridian
and Market Streets converge.
Fittingly, the state motto is the Crossroads of America.
Automobile companies like Duesenberg and Stutz once made
Indianapolis a rival of Detroit, and now thousands of IndyCar
fans gather at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway every year for
the Indy 500 to celebrate and experience that rich history.
Its this pride in a state which connected the coasts of a vast
country that motivates Republican Gov. Mike Pence today. He
grew up in rural Columbus, where his Irish-Catholic family set
out to get a piece of the American dream. Roads weave their
way through that story as well. His father owned a string of gas
stations. His grandfather was a bus driver in Chicago.Pences road to politics, meanwhile, was neither straight nor
smooth. He lost congressional elections in 1988 and 1990.
But now, after serving 12 years in the U.S. House of
Representatives and being elected the states 50th governor
in 2012, the road many are talking about leads to the White
House. Is Pence the GOPs best chance at derailing Hillary
Clintons course in 2016? He might just be.
A PROMISING PICTURE
Pence is soft-spoken, deliberate and, some might even say,
reserved. But he beams with pride as he shows me around his
office, an ornate,
Italian Renais-
s a n c e - i n s p i r e d
chamber lined
with Indiana Oak.
He chose the por-
traits hanging onthe paneled walls
himselfthree In-
diana governors,
William Henry
Harrison, Jona-
than Jennings and
Oliver P. Morton;
Herman Hudson,
who founded the
African-American studies department at Indiana University;
and Madame C.J. Walker, the first self-made woman million-
aire in America. Theres also a painting that he was told was
displayed at President Lincolns funeral.I love this kind of stuff, he tells me excitedly.
Theres also a red telephone on his desk that his wife, Karen,
gave him one Christmas. Only she has the number.
And it occasionally rings, he says sheepishly. And every
time it does, I stand.
Theres a model IndyCar and family photos. And there are
the requisite pictures of Pence with other presidentsboth
Obama and George W. Bush. When we come to a photograph
of the governor with Ronald Reagan, theres a pause.
He tells me he was a 29-year-old candidate for Congress
when he was invited to meet the president in the Blue Room.
Mike Pence leaves the stage with his w ife Karen afer being sworn in as Indianas 50th governorearlier this year. (AP /Michael Conroy)
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September 2013 TOWNHALL41
When I asked how nervous he was, he responded, Very, and
then told me the story:He said to me, Mike, hows the campaign going? And I said,
Well, its going fine. But Ive got something Id like to say to
you. And he said, Well, go right ahead. And I said, Id just like
to thank you for everything youve done for this country and
everything youve done to inspire my generation of Americans
to believe in this country again. And for the rest of my life I
will always believe that, in that moment, the 40th president of
the United States of America blushed, like hed never heard it
before.
If Pence admires Reagans humility, he equally admires his
leadership, putting people before politics and even party
Pence actually grew up idolizing John F. Kennedy and serving
as the Democratic youth party coordinator in BartholomewCounty. (It hasnt hurt his career, he jokes.)
But some things you just grow out of. He found conservatism
eventually, saying, I started to think about the ideals that
I cherished, and I was drawn to the Republican Party,
predominately by the voice and example and the leadership of
Ronald Reagan.
He also found a new church, deciding to attend Evangelical
churches with his family. He disregards the polls that suggest
religion in America is on the decline: Faith continues to be
enormously important here in Indiana and, I believe, around
the country. People express it in different ways. But I still
Thengubernatorial candidate Mike Pence speaks t o supporters fr om the bed of his red pickup truck during a rally at a lumber yard in Lafayette, Ind.,in 2012. (AP/Michael Conroy)
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42 TOWNHALL September 2013
believe in my heart that an overwhelming majority of American
people still cherish their faith in God and see it as important in
their life as I do.
As Pence went about forging his political career, he
experimented with different forums, heading the Indiana
Policy Review Foundation, a conservative think tank, and later
starring in a local radio show, The Mike Pence Show, which he
described as Rush Limbaugh on decaf.
When he eventually won the 2nd Congressional District
election in 2000 (and five more times after that, during which
the district morphed into the 6th Congressional) he took the
kind of tough stances on fiscal and social issues that earned
himHuman Events Man of the Year moniker in 2005 for his
principles of lower taxes, limited government, a strong defense
and a fierce dedication to moral authority.
He voted to ban federal health coverage that included
abortion funding in 2011 and sponsored a bill to prohibit
federal funding of Planned Parenthood.
He also took a controversial stand to cut spending in the
wake of Hurricane Katrina. I asked him to reflect on that time
through the lens of recent disaster spending fights in Congress
over Hurricane Sandy.
At the time of [Katrina], I was serving in a leadership role
among House conservatives, Pence said. And every single one
of us was supportive of relief effortsme includedbut we
just thought that fiscal respon-
sibility requires decisions about
priorities. And I was pleased by
the fact that, in the course of that
debate, we passed what was the
last significant deficit reduction
act that was signed into law. We
saved tens of billions of dollars
as a way of offsetting the cost of
those unexpected expenses. AndI think thats what the American
people expect from people in
public life. They expect men and
women who have responsibilities
to be willing to make the choices
and exercise priorities in a discerning way even while we meet
the critical and vital and oftentimes the emergency needs that
occur in our states and in our communities.
I also asked him to reflect on the recent shooting in New-
town, Conn., and what he thinks the gun control conversation
is missing.
I believe that firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens
makes communities more safe, not less safe, Pence said. Butwe recognize the fact that there have been tragedies in this
country. One would be too many, but weve had many more
than one. And theyve torn at the heart of the American people.
The American people have big hearts, especially when it
comes to our kids. But I think its possible to discharge our
responsibilities to our families and our communities and also
protect our rights at the same time.
THE OPTIMISTIC COMMUNICATOR
In the wake of President Obamas re-election and the mini-
awakening Republicans have been experiencing since, many
have suggested that one of the problems the GOP faced in 2012
was a lack of positive messaging and clear alternatives to the
Democrats policies. For four years, Republicans ran an anti-
Obama campaign instead of conditioning environments all
over the country to embrace conservative ideas.
Pence is reluctant to pile on in the autopsy efforts, but he
does offer some analysis along those lines.
Im someone who really believes that one of the reasons for
our success in a difficult election year here in Indiana was we
spent all the resources in our campaign articulating a positive
vision for an even better Indiana. We talked about the progress
Indiana made in the last eight years, becoming the fiscal envy
of the country, advancing economic and educational reforms.
But we spoke aspirationally. We said we want to go to the next
level. We want Indiana to be known everywhere as the state
that works, and we laid out a roadmap for how we would do
that. We spent all of our time in our campaign not talking about
what was wrong with our opponents ideas but what was right
about our ideas.
Conservatives in the wake of 2012 have also taken up
the project of judging each other on their conservative-
ness, wondering aloud if someone like Chris Christie is too
moderate and Ted Cruz is too extreme. I asked Pence if
thats been a productive or valuable exercise for a party that is
supposed to be a big tent.
Well, Im a conservative, but
Im not in a bad mood about
it, Pence said. I understand
politics is about addition and
not subtraction. And I really
do believe that any success that
Ive enjoyed in public life and in
being awarded the opportunity
to serve in this position has been
a testament hopefully to a lot ofhard work on our part. But more
importantly its been a testament
to the power of the ideas that
were advancing: the principles
of economic freedom, of equality
of opportunity in education, of common sense and common
values and expressing those in a way that demonstrates respect
for all concerned.
And when it comes to the ways Republicans need to
communicate their ideas, Pence naturally turns back to
Reagan.
I was drawn to the Republican Party because of the voice
and ideals of Ronald Reagan, and what I heard in him wasan uncanny ability to articulate the principles of limited
government, a strong defense, a respect for American
traditions and values. But what I also heard in Ronald Reagan
was a gentleness and a respect for every American and a deep
love for this country. And I truly believe that as I go forward in
my career, Ill always seek to manifest those same aspirational
qualities, because this is a very difficult time in the life of
our country. People are really looking for answers more than
arguments, and the more we can articulate the ideals and the
policies that naturally proceed out of them, the more I think
were going to be given opportunities at every level ahead.
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September 2013 TOWNHALL43
Opportunities like the White House? Pence tells me he hasnt
spent a single second thinking about any other job. But others
have been happy to.
In 2010, Pence was the subject of a presidential draft
movement, and, at the Values Voters Summit that year, he won
the presidential straw poll. National Reviews Katrina Trinko
and Erick Erickson of Red State were among the conservativevoices pushing Pence to run, but in the end he declined so he
could run for the governors office following Mitch Daniels
retirement.
Now, as the focus turns to Republican newsmakers like
Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Chris Christie, the attention on
Pence may have waned, but it will no doubt resurrect as 2016
draws near.
Until then, while some hope that hell make a run for the
White House, he is focused squarely on Indiana and his
mission to bring jobs back to the state. And, though the states
unemployment rate is still above the national average, it dropped
to 8.3 percent in May while the national average ticked up
.1 percent.But in Indiana, all roads lead back to, well, more roads. In May
of this year, Pence signed a $30 billion, two-year budget into law
that invests more than $600 million in roads and infrastructure,
all while passing on to Hoosiers a $600 million tax cut, a repeal
of the state inheritance tax and business tax reductions.
Its business-friendly overtures like tax breaks and
deregulation that have lured companies like Geico, Toyota,
Angies List and Subaru to invest and expand in Indiana.
On day one of my administration, I signed an executive
order that established a moratorium on any new regulation in
the state of Indiana until we did a full-scale look back at all of
Indianas business regulations, he says. I simply think that less
taxes and less regulation means more jobs.
Indiana was also the first state in the industrial Midwest to
pass right-to-work legislation.
Since we became a right-to-work state, Pence says, literally
dozens of companies have initiated contact or made decisions
to come to Indiana, and we welcome that.By Indiana becoming a right-to-work state, by our neighbors
to the north becoming a right-to-work state, I think we are
beginning to model the kind of policies and practices that can
really relight the pilot light of the industrial Midwest, which I
believe is of incalculable importance.
ROAD TO THE FUTURE
Ronald Reagan might have grown up in Illinois, but Hoosiers
like Mike Pence are very proud of their next-door neighbor.
And how do Hoosiers show their affection? Theyve named
a road after him, of course. The Ronald Reagan Parkway has
been a giant, 25-year undertaking and will one day l ink three
interstates. Its not complete yet, but a little over a month afterPence won the governorship, a major section of that Parkway
was completed and opened to traffic in ceremony, reported
local NBC affiliate WTHR.com.
Meanwhile, whether Pences own road keeps him in Indiana
for another term or brings him back to Washington is anyones
guess. But plenty will be pulling for the latter.
S.E. Cupp is author of Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Medias
Attack on Christianity. She has a weekly column in the New
York Daily News and was recently announced as a host for CNNs
Crossfire.
S.E. Cupp chats with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on her visit to Indianapolis. (Photo cour tesy of the Indi ana governor s oce)
Politics