Highlights: To watch Pence on the trail these days is to see a man navigating the awkward, abrupt transition from being next in the line of presidential succession just four years ago to backbencher status among the Republican field. You can see him grapple with his own political mortality, working it out in public.

Since disclosing that he has just $1.2 million cash left, alongside more than $620,000 in debt, Pence’s presidential campaign has not said whether he has qualified for the third debate in Miami next month; he’s reached the polling minimum but not the donor threshold.

Nearly six months into his presidential campaign, and fewer than 90 days until the Iowa caucuses, Pence is not seeing massive crowds like his former running mate Donald Trump, or his fellow Midwesterner Vivek Ramaswamy, or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, or even his longtime frenemy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. Thirty folks at Penn Drug store in Sidney on a recent Friday morning; another 30 at the Olive Branch Restaurant in Greenfield that afternoon; 60 at a senior center in Glenwood the next day. Nor is he seeing anything but single-digit backing in polls. In Iowa, he’s currently averaging just 2.6 percent among Republican voters.

It’s difficult to find a political prognosticator who is not on his payroll who gives Pence any plausible shot at winning the nomination, a reality he acknowledged on the trail earlier this month. “The media has already decided how all this is going to end,” he told just 13 people at a Pizza Ranch in Red Oak.

  • @o0joshua0o
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    181 year ago

    I can’t believe he hasn’t thrown in the towel already. No one likes him on either side of the aisle.

    • BarqsHasBite
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      81 year ago

      He must really want to be president. He’s also 64, this is pretty much the last chance. Can’t play the long game like Paul Ryan who’s sitting the mess out.

      • @[email protected]
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        61 year ago

        He has said he believes god told him he would become president, that it’s his destiny. Giving up would mean questioning his core beliefs.

      • Hyperreality
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        41 year ago

        Here’s a video of a tortoise having sex.

        I imagine the noise Mitch McConnell makes when masturbating is a mix of that and a tiny violin.

        Although that one time he had a stroke on live television, he didn’t make that much noise.

        Just thought I’d share that with everyone. You’re welcome!

    • @BottleOfAlkahest
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      31 year ago

      He’s polling so low that I didn’t even realize he was still running. I thought I’d just missed him dropping out, the fact that he’s still “on the trail” is just pathetic.