President Pelosi? Pence prepares to risk it all for Trump

Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Utah on Monday as he plays the Trump campaign’s lead act for the foreseeable future — the highest-profile surrogate for the president’s reelection at a time when both men can least afford another setback following Donald Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis.

After months of campaigning in smaller, lower-profile settings — from greeting voters at roadside diners to addressing blue-collar workers deep in the Rust Belt — Pence will step into the spotlight this week for a high-stakes debate against Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, a MAGA rally in Arizona and a brief stop in his home state of Indiana to cast an early ballot in the 2020 race.

A month before Election Day, Pence is putting it all on the line in a last-ditch attempt to rescue his ticket.

The vice president himself has presented a positive face about representing the GOP ticket in a moment of crushing uncertainty, despite pressure from White House aides and allies to hunker down in Washington until Trump gets the all-clear. The president remains a patient at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he has been receiving a variety of therapies and drugs to combat the potentially fatal disease.