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Tim Kaine: Swing state senator with foreign policy clout

Agence France-Presse

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Tim Kaine: Swing state senator with foreign policy clout
The senator is aware that he lacks high wattage, like that exuded by Republican VP pick Sarah Palin in 2008. 'I am boring,' he smilingly acknowledges in a recent television appearance.

 

NEW YORK, USA – Tim Kaine, named Friday, July 22, as Hillary Clinton‘s White House running mate, is a popular senator with strong foreign policy credibility who could help the Democrats bring in two key voting blocs: Hispanics and the battleground state of Virginia.

The Spanish-speaking lawyer, widely seen as a safe choice for Clinton as she heads into a bruising showdown with Republican Donald Trump, emerged as a frontrunner in the veepstakes because he ticks so many boxes.

In addition to his defense and foreign policy credentials as a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees), his language skills are a major asset in a year when the Latino vote could be decisive.

In a series of tweets announcing her VP pick, Clinton heaped praised on the 58-year-old who is known for his affable manner.

“@timkaine is a relentless optimist who believes no problem is unsolvable if you put in the work to solve it,” Clinton wrote. “@timkaine’s guiding principle: the belief that you can make a difference through public service.”

Perhaps above all, Kaine is a middle-of-the-road choice who can put independent male voters at ease.

The senator is aware that he lacks high wattage, like that exuded by Republican VP pick Sarah Palin in 2008. “I am boring,” he smilingly acknowledged in a recent television appearance.

Indeed, the stolid Kaine – despite his legal training and 18 years as a practicing attorney – never seems to have a sharp word (or a terribly quotable one) for anyone.

But what his fans do see in Kaine is what they say is an unerring sense for successfully navigating the stormy seas of politics.

Elected mayor of Richmond, Virginia, in July 1998, governor of the state in 2006, and then senator in 2012, “he has never lost an election,” as Hillary Clinton herself noted recently.

He served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, helping build a broader national profile.

And at a time when American politics have rarely been more vitriolic and polarized, the even-tempered Kaine – who grew up in the US heartland city of Kansas City, Missouri – has often shone as a consensus builder.

“I know how to work on a team, and (in) most of life to get things done you have to work as a team,” he said in the NBC interview.

A graduate of the prestigious Harvard Law School, Kaine has long been near the top of most lists of Democratic stars; he was mentioned as a running mate for Barack Obama in 2008. He endorsed Obama that year, angering Clinton supporters, but backed Clinton early this time around.

Although Obama instead picked Joe Biden as his No. 2, Kaine helped Obama turn Virginia from red to blue, the first time the state had chosen a Democrat for president since it voted for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

As much as he prefers consensus, Kaine has waded into several tough political fights over the years.

‘Worst day of my life’

Recently, he again called for strengthened gun-control laws. One of the worst mass shootings in US history took place in 2007 on the campus of Virginia Tech, with 32 deaths, while Kaine was governor.

“That was the worst day of my life, and it will always be the worst day of my life,” he said during a Senate hearing.

While still practicing law, Kaine represented several clients in discrimination suits and defended a number of death-row inmates.

A father of 3, married to his wife Anne for 32 years, Kaine has said his sense of justice is inspired by his deep Roman Catholic faith.

Kaine interrupted his Harvard studies to spend a year on a mission with Jesuit priests in Honduras. That helped him sharpen his skills at Spanish.

But liberal Democrats, above all backers of former Clinton rival Bernie Sanders, do not see Kaine as a natural for the No. 2 spot. They criticize him as overly sympathetic to the business world.

The son of an entrepreneur – Kaine’s father had a welding business – he helped, as mayor, to lower taxes for small and medium-size businesses in Richmond.

A disciple of budget orthodoxy, Kaine berated the George W. Bush administration for what he called its “reckless spending.”

The Virginia politician has also drawn criticism from environmental militants for what they see as his lukewarm stances on fossil fuel use.

But Kaine backed Obama’s plans for clean energy and publicly opposed the construction of the giant – and hugely controversial – Keystone XL oil pipeline. – Rappler.com

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