republican vice-presidential nominee mike pence, proving unflappable in a bruising debate with democratic rival tim kaine, displayed a skill that donald trump <u+2019>s allies want him to master: stay calm, sharpen his policy points and avoid political traps. in preparation for his second showdown with democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton on sunday, mr. trump has studied video footage of his widely panned performance in their first debate.<u+00a0>now, mr. pence<u+2019>s performance<u+2014>in which he shrugged off mr. kaine<u+2019>s attacks on mr. trump<u+2014>is being held<u+00a0>up as a model for mr. trump to emulate. mr. pence <u+201c>had all of the qualities and attributes that trump has to show in the next debate: command of the issues, charm, and he has to defend his own policies,<u+201d> said stephen moore, a conservative economist who has advised the trump campaign. mr. trump is expected to focus on debate preparation on thursday by being peppered with questions from staff. but the sunday event might require a different kind of practice for mr. trump. the town-hall format is a setting that mrs. clinton has far more experience with than mr. trump. it also makes it harder for the candidates to lob attacks on each other, because they are being questioned by voters typically seated nearby. mr. trump may get a little more practice on thursday night, when he is expected to hold a town-hall-style campaign event in new hampshire, a campaign aide confirmed. the new york businessman<u+2019>s supporters and advisers see an urgent need for him to turn in a stand-out performance and right his campaign after one of the most damaging weeks of the entire campaign. mr. trump<u+2019>s showing in the first debate was faulted because he was thrown on the defensive for much of the time, and he spent days afterward complaining about a faulty microphone and bickering over a weight issue with a former miss universe, including sending out provocative tweets in predawn hours. that week has put his allies on edge with just five weeks before election day. <u+201c>the clinton campaign has cracked the trump code; nobody in the primary could. she<u+2019>s figured out how to bait him, hook him and reel him into the boat,<u+201d> said michael caputo, a former trump aide. but he saw in mr. pence<u+2019>s disciplined performance <u+201c>a unique window to reboot the message, come out swinging and regain the momentum.<u+2019><u+2019> mr. trump, speaking at a wednesday campaign rally in henderson, nev., praised mr. pence<u+2019>s performance and said it reflected well on his own judgment in picking him as his running mate. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m getting a lot of credit because that<u+2019>s my first so-called choice; that was my first hire,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>america also got to look first-hand at my judgment.<u+201d> although he was widely perceived as unprepared in the first debate in hempstead, n.y., mr. trump and his top supporters insisted he did well. but mr. trump privately <u+201c>equivocated<u+201d> on his performance after reviewing the videotape, according to a person familiar with the trump campaign<u+2019>s debate preparations. mr. trump has spent recent days studying new attack lines against mrs. clinton and practicing ignoring her attacks that drove him to distraction last week, that person said, but he still grows impatient with often-tedious preparations. mr. trump has maintained his typical travel schedule this week, making stops in virginia, colorado, arizona and nevada, while studying for the debate on his airplane. rep. chris collins (r.,n.y.), a strong trump supporter, said he had <u+00a0><u+201c>guarded optimism<u+201d> that the nominee would heed suggestions for improvement. <u+201c>donald trump wants to win. he knows it was not a good week,<u+201d> said mr. collins. <u+201c>all of us campaign surrogates have delivered the same message,<u+201d> which he summarized in three words: discipline, discipline, discipline. trump campaign manager kellyanne conway dismissed rumors that her boss was upset about mr. pence<u+2019>s strong performance because it upstaged his own. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s just not true,<u+201d> said ms. conway. <u+201c>as ronald reagan always said: <u+2018>personnel is policy.<u+2019> and donald trump has promised as president to surround himself with the best people.<u+201d> throughout the 90-minute debate, mr. kaine aggressively challenged mr. pence to defend some of mr. trump<u+2019>s most controversial statements and positions, such as his proposal to temporarily ban muslims from entering the u.s., his praise for russian president vladimir putin and his denigration of mexican immigrants. mr. pence responded with silent head shakes and false denials that his running mate had ever uttered such rhetoric. rather than refute some of the more pointed attacks on mr. trump, mr. pence sometimes just didn<u+2019>t respond. the result was a controlled contrast with mr. kaine<u+2019>s rough-and-tumble approach that critics called rude for his repeated interruptions. mrs. clinton had no public campaign events wednesday, but when asked about mr. kaine<u+2019>s performance while she was headed onto an airplane, she flashed two thumbs up. her campaign manager, john podesta, said wednesday of the debate: <u+201c>the impression that everyone came away with was that mike pence didn<u+2019>t want to defend donald trump, and as sen. kaine said: if you can<u+2019>t defend the person at the top of the ticket, how can you ask people to vote for him?<u+201d> former house speaker newt gingrich, a trump supporter, said it is crucial that he gird for more clinton attacks in the closing weeks of the campaign. <u+201c>he has to assume that the clinton team has 3, 4 or 5 stupid issues like miss universe, and he has to develop a formula for not engaging,<u+201d> said mr. gingrich. asked if he believed mr. trump would be able to do that, mr. gingrich said, <u+201c>this is an intimately personal decision. this is about who is donald trump.<u+201d> <u+2014>michael c. bender contributed to this article.
donald trump<u+2019>s allies want him to imitate mike pence in next debate    - wsj
janet hook reid j. epstein