I think Newt would have been a much better pick. The little I've read about Pence indicates that that he caves to political pressure and political correctness.
From the National Review:
Indiana governor Mike Pence is now calling for legislation “clarifying” that his state’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act will not give any business the right to deny services to anyone. This is a craven capitulation. The act as passed allows courts to do a balancing test. The clarification seriously threatens the newly created balance. It would tilt the playing field away from those who would assert religious objections to various commercial activities. RFRA or no, those objections are often valid.
From the Washington Examiner:
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was known as a stalwart fighter for limited government principles as a member of the House of Representatives (one of few Republicans to have voted against President Bush's Medicare prescription drug plan and No Child Left Behind law). But on Tuesday, he betrayed taxpayers when he embraced an expansion of Medicaid through President Obama's healthcare law.
As does Newt. He’s already backtracked on his Muslim comments and “clarified” them. Pence is a solid if unspectacular choice, but we should all look at Trump’s selection and see the CEO in action.
Trump sets the strategy and vision, but he has little to no experience in passing legislation, and probably doesn’t care one bit about the nuts and bolts. He told us he was going to get a “political” person to help him with the legislative part of the job, and he got about the best person available to do that.
Newt was a master legislator but is undisciplined. and weekly, Newt would be stirring up another controversy. Newt is the absolute worst person you could have had for VP because he would view his role as a co-Presidency. Christie would be better than Newt, but you already have 1 executive in Trump, why would you need two?
The basic facts are that most of the GOP outright sucks. It is full of cheap labor hacks, pro amnesty shills, and Chamber of Commerce sell outs. There is nobody out there like Trump otherwise they would be nominee and not Trump. So Trump is the CEO and Pence will be the COO. Pence was the least worst option that perfectly fulfilled Trump’s greatest weakness. Be thankful you just saw a great CEO make a pick that will help him implement his agenda for the good of the country. Trump also learned from business that the person who beats you in a deal or steals one from you may be the next person you partner with, which is why he could care less that Pence endorsed Cruz.