Pence Defends Trump, Continues Campaign In Florida
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence campaigned in Miami and other parts of the state Friday, while his Democratic counterpart Tim Kaine will be in town starting Saturday.
Pence started the day with a mid-afternoon appearance in Pensacola before heading south to attend the Miami-Dade Republican Party Annual Lincoln Day Dinner.
The Indiana governor was the keynote speaker at the dinner and it had a very different tone than your typical Trump-Pence Rally.
The audience was full of the Republican Party's base.
They wanted conservative and Pence delivered.
"I think it was one of the smartest moves that he could've made being the Republican nominee picking a true conservative like Mike Pence to be his VP," said Republican Luis Rodriguez. "That was smart."
Pence spent most of the speech talking about Hillary Clinton.
"And here the Democratic Party has nominated someone who erased 18,000 emails," Pence said. "There was a private server that she operated apart from government systems to keep her communications about what was happening there presumably away from public accountability."
But he also remembered his audience, getting a standing ovation for his stance on Cuba.
"When Donald Trump and I take to the White House we will reverse Barack Obama's executive order on Cuba we will support the continuation of the embargo until we see real political and religious freedom take hold in that nation once and for all," he said.
Earlier in the day, on CBS This Morning, when pressed on the recent sexual misconduct allegations from several women about Trump, Pence assured host Charlie Rose that the accusations are untrue.
"Donald Trump has asserted that all of these recent unsubstantiated allegations are categorically false," said Pence. "And I do believe him."
Friday night was not about winning over new voters, but more of a pep rally to reignite the fire for Republicans.
"We need this. The RNC needs this," said Denise Galvez. "We need to unify the party, and there's been a lot of talk in the media about all of the deserters but they need to see that a lot of us are sticking together a lot of us are backing our candidate."
Saturday, he'll attend a state Republican dinner in Tampa.
Meanwhile, Kaine will campaign in the Democratic strongholds of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties on Saturday and Sunday, which is the final weekend before Florida's new October 18 voter registration deadline.
Joining Kaine at a Florida Democrats block party Saturday in Liberty City, hip hop recording artist and Virginia native Pusha T will lay out why he is supporting Clinton and Kaine in this election and urge Floridians to register to vote.
Saturday's Block Party will take place in the parking lot of the Carrie P. Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center on the North Campus of Miami Dade College. Sen. Kaine is expected to speak around 5:15 p.m.
That'll be followed by a fundraiser Saturday night at the home of Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Jean Monestime in North Miami.
On Sunday and Monday, Kaine will campaign at events in Tallahassee, Panama Beach and Pensacola.
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