Clinton introduces running mate Tim Kaine
Clinton says Kaine is ‘everything’ their GOP rivals are not
MIAMI — In another election, Hillary Clinton might have been tempted to choose a different kind of running mate.
She could have fired up the party base with a staunch progressive or reinforced her own historic candidacy with another woman or a Latino.
But this is no ordinary year.
And Clinton’s choice of Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine reflects how she is running against Donald Trump: Kaine will help her emphasize that she is the responsible candidate who belongs in the Oval Office, not the billionaire real estate magnate and reality TV star.
The Clinton-Kaine ticket debuted publicly Saturday at a large and boisterous rally before a diverse audience in Miami, two days before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
In the nation’s largest and most competitive battleground state, Clinton’s new partner introduced himself to a national audience in both English and Spanish, sharing the experiences that shaped a life of public service in and out of elected office.
Clinton called her choice “everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not,” someone who has fought discrimination and worked to expand opportunities for all he has served.
Amid criticism from some progressives that Kaine was too moderate, Clinton stressed her running mate’s history as a civil rights lawyer and a campaigner against the National Rifle Association and said that Kaine was a “progressive who wants to get things done” like she does.
“He’s not afraid to take on special interests,” she said. “Behind that smile, Tim has a backbone of steel. Just ask the NRA.”
But more than anything, Clinton said there was “no doubt in my mind” that he was ready not only to serve as vice president but president.
The pick comes at a key moment for Clinton, who since clinching the nomination has struggled to articulate a vision for her candidacy without being overshadowed by Trump’s sagas or the controversy over her emails while she was secretary of state.
On Saturday in Miami, much as she did the day before in Tampa, Clinton seemed to have been newly energized by the events of the past week. She offered a determined rebuttal to the nomination acceptance speech Trump had delivered days earlier at the Republican convention in remarks that ranged from feisty to sarcastic to, ultimately, even emotional.
“This is one of the most consequential elections in our lifetimes,” she said.
“When someone says ‘I alone can fix’ ” the nation’s problems, she said, referring to one of the key lines in Trump’s speech, “that should set off alarm bells, not just in Democrats’ minds but Republicans, independents, people of all ages . ... That is not a democracy.”
Kaine picked up the themes, talking about the experiences that have shaped his life, from his Kansas roots to his missionary work with Jesuit priests in Honduras and later as a civil rights lawyer and ultimately an elected official.
He warmly praised naturalized citizens, gushed about his wife and kids, saying he was “the luckiest dad and the luckiest husband in the world,” and described his early career battling housing discrimination.
But the traditional role of a vice presidential candidate is to play attack dog. And Kaine showed no reluctance to do so in front of an audience of more than 5,000 at Florida International University.
He talked about his eldest son’s service as a Marine and the fact that he would soon be deploying to Europe, “to uphold America’s commitment to our NATO allies” — a reference to Trump’s recent comment that he might not defend NATO allies in the Baltic region if they were invaded by Russia.
Those in the armed services like his son “deserve a commander in chief with the experience and the temperament to lead,” Kaine added. But Trump, he said, “repeatedly calls the American military a disaster.”
Aides say that against any other Republican, Clinton might have focused more on ideology in her campaign pitches and in her vice presidential choice, reprising familiar left vs. right, red vs. blue political arguments.
But against Trump, Clinton has been driven by a more basic concern: Who is ready and able to govern?
And so she has embraced her predilection toward substance over rhetorical flourish.
“I confess, it is true, I can be a little wonky,” she said at a campaign rally in June. “But I have this old-fashioned idea. If you’re running for president, you should say what you want to do and how you will get it done.”
And in Kaine, Clinton found a like-minded partner. After they met twice this month for extended interviews about the position, Clinton would talk with her aides not about the potential political pluses and minuses he might bring but about her belief that he was ready to do the job.
He does bring political assets, of course. He represents and has succeeded in a key swing state, and he helped to tilt it toward Democrats. His fluency in Spanish will be a benefit as Clinton appeals to a growing Latino constituency.