Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., right, gestures towards Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, left, as he speaks at a rally at Florida International University Panther Arena in Miami, Saturday, July 23, 2016.
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Other speakers on Wednesday will include Leon Panetta, the former defense secretary and Central Intelligence Agency director who served alongside Clinton during Obama’s first term, most notably during the military operation that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. “Because as a true public servant, Hillary knows this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments”.
Seeking to avoid a televised display of disunity, Bernie Sanders on Monday urged supporters to line up behind Democrat Hillary Clinton and claimed victory in deposing and sidelining a top party official.
More of those with an opinion like Kaine than dislike him, Democrats are mostly fans, and while Sanders supporters may not be overwhelmingly favorable towards Kaine, more like him than don’t.
Kaine’s stances on abortion rights, coal-fired power plants, “right-to-work” laws and his support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Fast Track past year are all fodder for the Sanders fans’ disdain.
“I wasn’t happy with the process in the primaries, ” she said.
The statement was signed by DNC leaders, though Wasserman Schultz’s name was notably absent.
Clinton’s campaign hoped the nighttime line-up would overshadow a tumultuous start to the four-day convention. It also sapped some of Clinton’s energy coming out of Republican Donald Trump’s chaotic convention last week and the well-received rollout Saturday of her running mate, Virginia Sen.
Behind the scenes, Sanders and Clinton aides joined forces to try to ease tensions.
Former president Bill Clinton is the star on Tuesday, while President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden take the stage Wednesday.
“Every word we utter, every action we take, we know they are watching”, Obama said. “Trump is a bully and a demagogue”. But first she’ll formally open and close the convention, and address delegates. Cory Booker, one of two black US senators.
Appearing with Clinton two days before the launch of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, Kaine focused much of his speech on distinguishing Clinton, who was present and appeared more at ease than she has during much of her campaign to become the Democratic nominee, and her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump. Clinton promised a stark contrast to the GOP gathering, saying she planned to highlight “success stories” and flesh out details of her proposed policies. “There is only one person I trust with that responsibility, only one person I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is Hillary Clinton”.
Republicans see the McAuliffe-Clinton relationship as ripe for abuse, particularly after McAuliffe was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation over whether political donations to his gubernatorial campaign violated the law. Shortly after Friday’s announcement, Stephanie Taylor of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee said Kaine’s support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact gives Republicans “a new opening to attack Democrats on this economic populist issue”.
“We don’t have information right now about that, but what we have is a kind of bromance going on between Vladimir Putin and Trump which is distinct from this leak”, Clinton adviser John Podesta said in an MSNBC interview.
Trump’s campaign has dismissed suggestions that the Russians may be trying to influence the election in his favor.
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After Democratic Party officials learned their systems were attacked in late April, they sought the help of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Inc., which then discovered traces of at least two sophisticated hacking groups on the Democrats’ network – both of which have ties to the Russian government. And while he was speaking, Wasserman Schultz announced she would not gavel in the convention, an embarrassing acknowledgment that her presence onstage would only showcase deep party divisions. Her opponent in Florida’s August 30 congressional primary is Tim Canova, a Nova Southeastern University law professor who tweeted Monday that “DWS must be defeated in this election and removed from Congress”.
