THE VACUUM IS AT THE TOP:

When some of President Trump's aides were reassuring him over the past few weeks that he had enough votes to pass a health care bill, Vice President Mike Pence was skeptical.

Mr. Pence, a Hill-wise former Indiana congressman who is typically a palliative presence in an administration of piranhas, had been keeping tabs on conservatives, counseling the president not to take anything for granted, and he urged Mr. Trump to take a hard line against his ideological allies who were pushing for a far more radical rewrite of the Affordable Care Act.

During the course of the last two trying weeks, as less-experienced advisers floundered -- and others skipped town -- Mr. Pence emerged as an effective, if not ultimately successful, wingman for a president short on competent help.

The health care debacle was nothing if not a CT scan of a troubled and inexperienced West Wing -- from the president's sketchy grasp on policy, to the heavy-handed tactics of his chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, who issued a final ultimatum to a balky Freedom Caucus.

Mr. Pence was simply filling a vacuum.

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