He speaks fluent Spanish and was reportedly on candidate Barack Obama’s short-list for V.P.in 2008. Clinton has previously been rumored to be considering options including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New Jersey Sen.
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In the midst of a political circus, what makes the Kansas City native, who has stayed out of the national spotlight, one of the top picks for vice president is precisely that.
Kaine and Vilsack each had friends and allies lobbying the Clinton campaign on their behalf.
Though some liberals take issue with Kaine’s views on global trade and Wall Street regulation, his reputation as a moderate could enable Clinton to steal voters away from Trump’s key base: white males.
Prominent Nevada Democrats had mixed reactions Friday after Hillary Clinton announced that Virginia Sen.
“Tim Kaine is enormously capable… very powerful intellect and very easy to work with”, said Merkley, Sanders’ sole Senate colleague to endorse him.
Clinton’s campaign closely guarded the selection process, keeping the names of finalists under wraps to try to maximize the impact of the announcement.
She started that task at a rally in Florida responding to Trump. News said she would make the announcement on Friday. Cruz pointedly refused to endorse Trump on Thursday.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said the move drew a sharp contrast with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate Gov. Mike Pence, who he said were running on a platform of “discrimination and dysfunction”.
“I don’t do anything unless I win”, Trump insisted.
Kaine, well-liked in the Senate and a veteran mainstay of the Democratic establishment, could fit that criteria as a former mayor of Richmond, governor of Virginia and head of the Democratic National Committee.
In a political era where loyalty to ideological orthodoxy is often prized over compromise, Kaine has also worked across the aisles – according to GovTrack, 44% of Kaine’s bills and resolutions in 2015 had a Republican cosponsor.
He spoke there of his Irish roots and his visit to Ireland in 2006, his first year as governor of Virginia, with his wife Anne and three children. Many of Clinton’s paths to the White House run through Virginia, so sharing the ticket with a relatively popular native of the state could be a big boost.
Clinton also bypassed candidates who would have generated more excitement among liberal and Hispanic activists, including progressive favorite U.S. Sen. The Hill points out that while Kaine doesn’t want to overturn Roe v. Wade and has a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood for his votes as a Senator, he has backed other controversial restrictions like parental notification laws and bans on late-term abortions.
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Democrats offered a different assessment of the state of the nation. Obama said Friday that Trump painted a picture that “doesn’t really jibe with the experience with most people”.
