“In the halls of power, in the faces of our national security leaders, America is still not fully reflected”, she said.
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Clinton and Kaine spent Saturday morning in conversation at a Miami Beach hotel and then travelled to their first rally together at Florida International University. “Tim Kaine is everything that Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not”, Clinton began. He’s a guy who remembers why he entered public service in the first place and you just know he is doing what he believes is the right thing to do for the people he serves.
The Trump campaign attacked the choice, dubbing the senator “Corrupt Kaine”. He also discussed his childhood, including the fact that his father was a union-organized iron worker.
Podesta, who served as chief of staff to Bill Clinton and later advised Obama, offered the former secretary of state this advice: “It needs to be someone who whenever they walk into the room, you are glad to see them and you want to have them as part of any conversation”. Donald Trump trash-talks folks with disabilities. “I’m 8-0 and I promise you I’m not about to let that change”, he said.
The senator ran through a laundry list of agenda items that he and Mrs. Clinton will fight for in the White House, ranging from equal pay for women, a hike in the minimum wage, debt-free college for all Americans and comprehensive immigration reform.
“Sen. Tim Kaine is everything that Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not”, she said.
“He is qualified to step into this job and lead from Day One”.
While Senator Kaine represented stability, he was unlikely to satisfy progressive Bernie Sanders backers, but may help deliver the swing state of Virginia. The information on potential running mates was delivered in a bag from Duane Reed, a NY drug store.
When Kaine took the podium, he addressed the crowd in Spanish, saying, “Bienvenidos a todos”, before turning to Clinton and saying, “We’re going to be compañeros del alma”.
“Make no mistake, behind that smile, Tim also has a backbone of steel”.
Kevin Ring, vice president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a Washington advocacy group lobbying against federal sentencing minimums, said that Kaine, like Clinton, will have to demonstrate to black voters that he has “evolved” on the issue.
Clinton introduced Kaine as “a progressive who likes to get things done” and added the former Virginia governor cares more about making a difference than making headlines. Tim Kaine, D-Va., speaks at a rally July 14, 2016. “Bernie fought for nothing!”
Peter Daou, a former adviser to Clinton who now owns a media company, said Kaine’s speech would turn around some of the doubters about the choice. The gifts were legal under the state’s permissive ethics rules, but his willingness to accept them could become an issue during the presidential campaign.
Friends and colleagues describe Kaine as steady and even-handed, often using the word “decent” to describe his character.
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine showed off his fluent Spanish skills, hoping to appeal to Florida’s Latino voters.
“I love that about him”, she said.
Kaine switched to Spanish a few times – he is fluent in that language – and praised the USA military as he said service members should have a “commander-in-chief with the experience and temperament to lead”. The Miami event comes two days before Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kaine are expected to formally accept their respective nominations at the party convention in Philadelphia.
In another election, Hillary Clinton might have been tempted to choose a different kind of running mate.
Kaine is viewed skeptically by some liberals, who dislike his 2015 vote to provide the president with “fast-track authority” on trade deals and recent stances on Wall Street regulations, including rules governing regional banks.
“He’s not afraid to take on special interests”, she said. He was the only one of the contenders who met with Clinton twice. Kaine doesn’t really have a national profile, so trying to define him early is the best way to go for the GOP. He supports restricting the sale of magazines carrying more than 10 bullets; Clinton wants to ban military-style guns she calls “weapons of war”.
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“I don’t think it’s a help at all”.
