CLINTON PICKS PRO-WALL STREET TIM KAINE AS RUNNING MATE
Hillary Clinton named Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate for the Democratic presidential ticket, a widely anticipated choice that may say more about how she wants to govern than how she plans to win in November.
Clinton made the announcement Friday in a text message to supporters. “I’m thrilled to tell you this first: I’ve chosen Tim Kaine as my running mate. Welcome him to our team,” it said. In a message on Twitter, Clinton said Kaine has dedicated his life to fighting for others, and described him as “a relentless optimist”. The pair will appear Saturday in Miami.
Clinton called Kaine at 7:32 p.m. Washington time to make it official, according to a campaign official, who asked for anonymity. Clinton then spoke with President Barack Obama.
Kaine, 58, a white Catholic from a battleground state who’s fluent in Spanish, is a safe choice for the woman who will this week become the firstever female presidential nominee of a major US political party. Kaine’s upbringing as the son of an ironworker may hold potential appeal to steelworkers and union labourers in swing states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Republicans quickly faulted Kaine. Jason Miller, a spokesman for the party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump, issued a statement describing Kaine as “ethically challenged”, citing a report in Politico saying he’d accepted more than $160,000 in gifts — including clothes and a vacation — from 2001 to 2009, while serving in public office in Virginia.
“If you think Crooked Hillary and Corrupt Kaine are going to change anything in Washington, it’s just the opposite,” Miller said.
In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama seriously considered Kaine, then in his third year as Virginia’s governor, for vice president but ultimately passed him over in favour of the older, more experienced Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.
Since being elected to the Senate in 2012, Kaine has built his national security and economic credentials as a member of the Senate Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Budget committees. He has sought to end openended Authorizations for the Use of Military Force in Afghanistan and Iraq, calling for debate and votes on a new authority for the mission against Islamic State.
The choice of Kaine will have appeal to some centrist Republicans uncomfortable with Trump. Yet it is sure to create disgruntlement among the liberal Democrats who supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in his drawn-out challenge to Clinton for the nomination.
Kaine is seen as more proWall Street than others who Clinton considered, especially Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. This week, as speculation about his selection built, he signed two letters to regulators urging leniency on all but the biggest banks. One, to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, was signed by every Republican senator and 16 other Democrats.
Clinton’s choice displeased some progressive activists who say Kaine’s support of free trade gives Republicans a new opening to attack Clinton. He’s a supporter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Obama’s administration negotiated with 11 other nations, and which awaits ratification in Congress. Sanders opposes the trade deal, and during the primary campaign Clinton said she wouldn’t support it in its current form.
“Republicans will run hard against Democrats on trade this year” and “now have a new opening to attack Democrats on this economic populist issue”, said Stephanie Taylor, cofounder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee, in a statement after Clinton made her announcement.
Since being elected to the Senate in 2012, Kaine has built his economic credentials as a member of the Foreign Relations and Budget committees