The smartest thing Pence could do right now would be to bail from the ticket. By disassociating 100% from Trump, he would still have a political future.

that will shorten the time available to them to win voters

Wonder what is happening? Just avoiding the press, or ...
preparing to lead the ticket?

The GOP will try to salvage what they can.

'We withdraw our ticket, vote Republican to foil Hillary' might
be their only option, surely they are considering all options

Because that's exactly what it feels like...

It will be interesting to see what kind of a crowd they get, with the headliners being replaced with a Priebus.

or he is thinking of quiting.

Where there is smoke there is fire. Pence might be dropping out immediately.

I would bet that Chris Christie replaces him.

n/t

yeah, I can totally see Christie with a mouth full of worms.

But perhaps a Freudian slip?

the plot thickens.

Bye bye GOP

You would think that Ryan would be cool with Trump's "locker room" talk.

http://www.businessinsider.com/todd-akin-paul-ryan-rape-bill-forcible-legitimate-mitt-romney-2012-8

In 2011, Ryan joined Akin — along with 171 others, however — in co-sponsoring The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, or House Resolution 3, which aimed to "prohibit taxpayer funded abortions and to provide for conscience protections." It passed the House but has no chance, at least now, of being brought for a vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

The Hyde Amendment contains exceptions to federal law banning funding for abortions that include cases of rape, incest and life-threatening circumstances for the mother. The original version of H.R. 3 would have narrowed that exception to cases of "forcible rape," though that definition was removed after much dissent (see Page 35 of the current text of the bill here).

Because he knows, at long last, that he can't win. Or says he will volunteer to flip the ticket, with Pence on top, since that would actually be what Trump will do anyways as far as everyday policy work. Or if that's not doable, the RNC has a closed door vote and nominates Christie, or Ryan or Mitt to take over.

They may lose the fringiest deplorable voter, but more Republicans would forgive the unusual and undemocratic nature of choosing their new candidate if they had someone that they would not be embarrassed to vote for. I fear this happening. A big reason Hillary is ahead is the moderate middle ground voter.

I just read that Ryan isn't attending--does anyone know who first decided not to go? It sounds like the entire event is not happening, but I don't have all afternoon to figure out what the sequence was, if someone out there in DU land has been able to keep it straight.