donald j. trump hailed mike pence<u+2019>s steady debate performance as a credit to his own judgment on wednesday in a renewed attempt to allay voters<u+2019> concerns about his temperament and readiness for the presidency. calling mr. pence the <u+201c>first hire<u+201d> of his administration, mr. trump said his running mate was an advertisement for government <u+00e0> la trump. he pronounced himself <u+201c>very, very proud of gov. mike pence.<u+201d> <u+201c>last night, america also got to look firsthand at my judgment <u+2014> and that was judgment,<u+201d> mr. trump said in nevada. <u+201c>you know you need judgment for people, for deals.<u+201d> with a swift and not-so-subtle effort to link mr. pence<u+2019>s debate outing back to the top of the ticket, mr. trump and his advisers tried once again to move on from one of the worst stretches of his campaign. after a widely panned performance in his debate last week with hillary clinton , mr. trump faces a steeper climb than ever as he works to persuade voters that he is fit for the presidency. mr. trump<u+2019>s advisers fanned out on television wednesday to make the most of mr. pence<u+2019>s moment; kellyanne conway, his campaign manager, called the debate proof of mr. trump<u+2019>s <u+201c>great judgment and leadership.<u+201d> it is doubtful that mr. pence<u+2019>s performance in his debate with senator tim kaine , mrs. clinton<u+2019>s running mate, will do much to move voters toward mr. trump. mr. kaine mounted an insistent and prodding attack on mr. trump and mr. pence at the 90-minute debate, frequently interrupting mr. pence to demand that he defend mr. trump<u+2019>s divisive statements. mr. pence remained unruffled as he sidestepped those demands, but on wednesday he faced intense scrutiny <u+2014> and a battery of attacks from democrats <u+2014> for evading questions about mr. trump<u+2019>s record. yet with mr. trump<u+2019>s temperament and readiness for the presidency lingering as central concerns for voters, the hope among trump allies is that mr. pence may have essentially reassured americans, by proxy, that mr. trump is calm enough for the job. democrats dismissed that possibility on wednesday morning. and they assailed mr. pence for having misrepresented the positioning and past comments of his running mate; the clinton campaign released a video showing mr. pence<u+2019>s denials alongside clips of mr. trump<u+2019>s remarks. the video concludes with a dig at both men: <u+201c>it<u+2019>s o.k., mike. we<u+2019>d have a hard time defending him, too.<u+201d> rallying supporters at a philadelphia union hall on wednesday evening, mr. kaine kept swinging at mr. trump and his running mate. <u+201c>he<u+2019>s pretty smooth,<u+201d> mr. kaine said of mr. pence. <u+201c>but there is one thing he can<u+2019>t do, and that is defend donald trump on anything <u+2014> on anything.<u+201d> mr. kaine allowed that he had been <u+201c>dinged a little bit, even by my wife, for, like, interrupting too much.<u+201d> but democrats said mr. kaine had successfully trained his fire on mr. trump and exposed mr. pence as incapable of defending his running mate on the merits. on the stump in ohio, bill clinton described mr. pence as having tried to <u+201c>shimmy out of a discussion<u+201d> on basic economic issues like the minimum wage and equal pay for women. and at a fund-raising event in washington, mrs. clinton poked fun at mr. pence for having <u+201c>bobbed and weaved<u+201d> his way through the debate. <u+201c>pence refused to defend the statements because they are indefensible,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>so when your own running mate won<u+2019>t defend the top of the ticket, i think that tells you everything you need to know.<u+201d> mr. pence repeatedly disputed quotations from mr. trump that were, in fact, accurate: he claimed in one instance that mr. trump had not indicated he might allow more nations to acquire nuclear weapons, though mr. trump had done just that . at one point, mr. pence appeared to break openly with mr. trump in his views about russia, calling mr. putin a <u+201c>small and bullying leader,<u+201d> though mr. trump had consistently said the opposite . still, mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign treated the aftermath of the debate as a kind of respite from a turbulent week and a half during which mr. trump made a series of intemperate attacks on subjects including a former miss universe<u+2019>s physique and mrs. clinton<u+2019>s marriage . mr. pence took something of a victory lap at a campaign stop in harrisonburg, va., where ed gillespie, a former chairman of the republican national committee, introduced him as <u+201c>one heck of a debater.<u+201d> mr. pence said mr. trump had called to congratulate him, and declared the night a victory for the top of the ticket. <u+201c>from where i sat, donald trump won the debate,<u+201d> mr. pence said. <u+201c>donald trump<u+2019>s vision to make america great again won the debate.<u+201d> he repeated his accusation from the debate that mr. kaine and mrs. clinton have been throwing <u+201c>an avalanche of insults<u+201d> in the campaign. there is scant polling information on how most voters reacted to the debate, and it is unclear that an encounter between comparatively low-key running mates might reshape a race dominated by two outsize presidential candidates. and any lingering fallout from the candidates<u+2019> performances will almost certainly be swallowed up by a debate between mr. trump and mrs. clinton on sunday <u+2014> a far more consequential event, and one much likelier to shift voter attitudes. ms. conway, the trump campaign manager, expressed confidence wednesday morning that he would offer a <u+201c>powerful performance<u+201d> in the second presidential debate, a town hall-style discussion at washington university in st. louis. she likened the format to mr. trump<u+2019>s rallies, though he rarely takes questions from members of his audience or engages in traditional retail politics. mr. trump is seen as needing a drastic recovery in sunday<u+2019>s debate after a dismal performance against mrs. clinton on sept. 26. he has slipped markedly in the polls over the past week and appears to have sacrificed much of the ground he captured in september. a monmouth university poll released on wednesday showed mrs. clinton with a two-point edge over mr. trump in ohio, where he had been running strong; monmouth surveys this week have also shown mrs. clinton leading by double digits in colorado and pennsylvania. visiting a barbecue restaurant in harrisonburg, mr. pence told an antsy supporter of the republican ticket that mr. trump would be well prepared for his next confrontation with mrs. clinton. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ve got to get trump to hammer sunday night,<u+201d> the woman told mr. pence. <u+201c>he<u+2019>s got to bring it all out.<u+201d> <u+201c>he<u+2019>ll be ready,<u+201d> mr. pence reassured her. <u+201c>he<u+2019>ll be ready.<u+201d> nick corasaniti contributed reporting. find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the first draft newsletter . a version of this article appears in print on october 6, 2016, on page a17 of the new york edition with the headline: lauding running mate, trump also takes credit. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
after mike pence<u+2019>s debate showing, donald trump takes credit
alexander burns ashley parker