INDIANAPOLIS -- While Wednesday night's speech at the Republican National Convention is being hailed as "the most important speech of Mike Pence's life," it won't be the governor's first time on the RNC stage.
In 2000, while still just a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, Pence gave a brief speech at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.
For anyone familiar with the themes of Pence's political career, the speech will sound familiar.
WATCH: @Mike_Pence's first C-SPAN appearance, from 2000 #GOPConvention. #RNCinCLEhttps://t.co/SA5JV4RDn4
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 20, 2016
"Our nation is in need of renewal as never before," Pence said. "We must renew the American Dream, and I believe we can. We can renew the American Dream by lifting the burden of taxes off families, small businesses and family farms, so they can once again dream and build a better life for their children and grandchildren. We can renew the American Dream by rebuilding the military after years of reckless cutbacks – rekindling the fires of men, material and morale that warmed the warriors that stand on liberty's ramparts protecting our families."
Another familiarity: Then, like now, people seemed not to know who Mike Pence was. He was introduced mistakenly as John Kline, who was then also a candidate for Congress from Minnesota.
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An online poll released Wednesday by NBC News & SurveyMonkey found that 48 percent of voters didn't know enough about Pence to form an opinion about him. Another 26 percent said they view him unfavorably, with an equal amount saying they had a favorable opinion of him.
Many political observers view Donald Trump's choice of Pence as running mate as an overture toward the conservative establishment, who thus far have been skeptical, if not outright hostile, to his candidacy.
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