Kaine courting Florida’s voters
PEMBROKE PINES — Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine sought to rally South Florida party leaders Saturday with a vision of good times under Hillary Clinton, and offering a contrasting — and dark — view of Donald Trump on the economy, national security and climate change.
In describing the presidential candidates, Kaine said Clinton is better prepared than the Republican to keep the nation safe and fight the Islamic State.
“She understands that our safety is about our muscle, but it’s also about our alliances. Donald Trump has a different attitude,” Kaine said.
As the Islamic State turns to small-scale strikes, he said those are most effectively thwarted by sharing intelligence with key allies. He said there was a sharp distinction with Trump, who he said wants to “build walls and tear down alliances.” Kaine said that is a “path to isolation and it’s a path to weakness.”
Highlighting an issue important to residents of Florida’s coastal communities, Kaine said there’s a clear difference between Democrats, who want to act on climate change, and Republicans, many of whom deny its existence or the role humans play in it. For people in Florida or Virginia, where Kaine is a U.S. senator, he said it’s not an issue that can be put off for future decades. It’s causing problems now: coastal flooding and threatening underground drinking water supplies.
“In Virginia, and I suspect it’s the same here, we accept the notion that there is climate change and that human activity is causing it to some significant degree,” said Kaine, a former governor. He jabbed at Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a strong Trump supporter, for the widely reported clampdown on state agencies’ use of the phrase “climate change.”
“You’ve got a governor who has ordered his officials to not even use the term,” Kaine said — something he termed “nuts.”
Kaine said Clinton would produce an economy that would bring prosperity for a wide swath of Americans, something he said Trump wouldn’t do. “We are a shared prosperity team, and we’re running against a guy who’s kind of a social Darwinism, me first, everyone else move aside” candidate.
Kaine’s appearance in Pembroke Pines came five weeks to the day after he made his first appearance as the vice presidential nominee, appearing with Clinton at a rally at Florida International University in west Miami-Dade County. He was back in Florida in early August, and said he’d return next week.
“I’m really, really focusing on Florida,” he said. “Because it is so close, it’s a place we’re going to spent a lot of time.”
Florida is getting so much candidate time and campaign money because it’s the biggest swing state in November and it has a history of exceedingly tight elections.
A poll of Florida voters released Friday by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research showed Clinton had the support of 44 percent of Florida voters; Trump had 42 percent.
“If we win Florida, it’s over,” Kaine said. “Help us do that.”