Brooks said that record gives Kaine credibility against voters on the far left who lament the vice presidential pick as too moderate.
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He was one of Clinton’s earliest supporters. She called Kaine to tell him about 40 minutes before the announcement, and called President Barack Obama shortly after Kaine. Tim Kaine, D-Va., speaks at a rally at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va. Kaine has been rumored to be one of Clinton’s possible vice president choices.
Also on the short list were Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who has been friends with the Clintons for decades and is from another key battleground state, Pennsylvania; and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, a Latino seen as a true liberal.
Kaine is not considered a lively speaker who will be the kind of attack dog Clinton may need to combat Trump.
Politically a middle-of-the-road Democrat, he is also seen as helping the former secretary of state win over votes from reluctant independent male voters. His character makes it all the more surprising that he would sign up to defend Hillary Clinton for the next three and a half months.
Clinton – who will be formally nominated as presidential candidate at the upcoming Democratic convention – announced her running mate on social media. He was chairman of the DNC during the disastrous 2010 midterm elections for Democrats that saw them lose the House. Attaching the former president’s name to the rumor lent it an aura of seriousness and likelihood created to separate Kaine from the other potential candidates: party progressives were effectively being warned that their protests would not be heeded. But in the end, Clinton resisted an urge to shake things up too much, and went with a white guy, who some have called boring.
“Do you want a “you’re fired” president or a “you’re hired” president?”
Clinton and Kaine, meanwhile, will appear at Florida International University in Miami. That said, Kaine hits the campaign trail tomorrow and will surely play a vital role at next week’s Democratic Convention.
“Nobody’s going to be ideal, and he’s not Bernie Sanders”, he said.
“Republicans will run hard against Democrats on trade this year”.
Kaine will help her present a steady alternative to the unpredictable campaign of the Republican billionaire businessman. He noted violent crime has recently risen in some cities, “but we’re not going to make good decisions based on fears that don’t have a basis in fact”.
Top Republicans were quick to criticize Clinton’s choice. “He will fight tooth and nail for American families, and hell be a dogged fighter in our campaign against Donald Trump and Mike Pence”, she said.
Tim Kaine to join her on the Democratic ticket as their party’s nominee for vice president. Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona has even said on Twitter that he was trying to count the ways he hated Mr. Kaine.
“I never thought I’d say these words but Ted Cruz was right”, Clinton said in Tampa.
Kaine was chosen in large part because of his broad appeal across the hotly contested swing state of Virginia.
Amy Dudley, a spokeswoman for Kaine, said the senator will in Boston on Friday for a long-scheduled fundraiser. But they seem confident that the overwhelming opposition to Donald Trump among female, minority and younger voters puts Clinton in a position of considerable strength.
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Democrats offered a different assessment of the state of the nation.
