With Trump ailing, a steady Pence tries to keep the campaign afloat

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the vice presidential campaign debate with Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris held on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., October 7, 2020. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mike Pence achieved on the debate stage what arguably President Donald Trump did not in a similar showdown last week: He offered a cogent and restrained case for why traditional Republicans and some swing voters should return the Trump-Pence ticket to the White House for four more years.

For Wednesday night's vice presidential square-off, Pence was charged with trying to steady the ship after a tumultuous week in which the president was hospitalized with the coronavirus and opinion polls showed the Republican Trump's re-election bid against Democrat Joe Biden slipping away.