Vice president pick Tim Kaine tries to connect to liberals,
PHILADELPHIA — Facing a backlash from the left, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine was expected to affirm his liberal credentials in his first primetime speech as Hillary Clinton’s running mate.
Kaine was speaking Wednesday to the Democratic National Committee as supporters of Clinton’s one-time Democratic rival Bernie Sanders warned that Kaine had yet to forcefully oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
Kaine, a former Virginia governor, was introduced by Clinton last weekend in Miami, where he switched easily between English and Spanish and spoke of his time as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, his work as a civil rights attorney and an education-focused governor who managed a state through tough times. He officially became the nominee in the early moments of Wednesday’s session, joining the ticket by acclamation to cheers and a few scattered boos.
Addressing his home state delegation Wednesday morning, Kaine called the campaign “a civil rights election,” panning Republican Donald Trump for mocking disabled people and using “demeaning and offensive language” about women.
“The next president is going to be the one celebrating 100 years of women getting the right to vote,” Kaine said. “Is it too much to ask that it be a woman rather than somebody who offends women every time he opens his mouth?”
Yet the threat of Trump hasn’t led to an open embrace of Kaine by liberals, who had pined for Clinton to select Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a champion of tougher restrictions on Wall Street and liberal causes.