Hillary Clinton on Friday tapped Tim Kaine,
a popular Spanish-speaking senator from
the swing state of Virginia, to be her
running mate in the White House showdown
against Donald Trump.
The pick comes three days before the start
of the Democratic National Convention in
Philadelphia, where Clinton -- and now Kaine
-- will be elevated as the nominees to the
party's presidential ticket.
"I'm thrilled to announce my running mate,
@timkaine, a man who's devoted his life to
fighting for other.
FILE: Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator Tim Kaine
Widely seen as a safe choice in a brutal
election race -- Kaine himself jokes that he
is "boring" -- the senator emerged as
frontrunner in the veepstakes because he
ticks so many boxes.
An experienced foreign policy hand who
serves on the Senate Foreign Relations and
Armed Services committees, he could help
Clinton lock in two key voting blocs:
Hispanics and the battleground state of
Politically a center-left Democrat, with
working-class roots and a spotless record
both as governor and senator, he is also
seen as helping Clinton win over votes from
reluctant independent male voters --
although at risk of alienating the party's
progressive left wing.
The pair will hit the campaign trail together
in Florida on Saturday.
The 58-year-old Kaine swiftly tweeted: "Just
got off the phone with Hillary. I'm honored
to be her running mate. Can't wait to hit the
trail tomorrow in Miami!"
Clinton, 68, had said she wanted a running
mate with enough experience to "literally
get up one day and be the president of the
United States."
Also on the short list were Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack, who has been
friends with the Clintons for decades and is
originally from another key battleground
state, Pennsylvania; and Labor Secretary
Thomas Perez, a Latino seen as a true
liberal.
Clinton put out a series of tweets heaping
praise on the senator.
She described him as "a relentless optimist
who believes no problem is unsolvable if you
put in the work to solve it" saying his
guiding principle was "the belief that you
can make a difference through public
service."
One of Clinton's tweets included a five-point
graphic highlighting the senator's youthful
spell on a Jesuit mission in Honduras as
well as his track record in fighting
homelessness, discrimination and gun
violence, in expanding early childhood
education and in fostering a pro-business
environment in Virginia.
- 'Congrats to a good man' -
Clinton's VP announcement comes two days
after Trump's number two -- Indiana
Governor Mike Pence -- accepted the
nomination at a tumultuous party convention
in Cleveland.
The New York billionaire painted a dystopian
dark picture of an America mired in poverty
and violence as he accepted his party's
nomination Thursday night, promising to
restore security, clamp down on immigration
and put America first.
Trump's choice of running mate, a
conservative evangelical Christian and
former congressman, could serve to
reassure voters alarmed by his rhetoric.
"I heard about Donald Trump's dark and
divisive vision," Clinton told a rally in Florida
Friday.
"Last night's speech took it to a whole new
level. He offered a lot of fear and anger and
resentment, but no solutions about anything
that he even talked about".
Nationwide polls suggest the New York
mogul is almost neck and neck with Clinton,
the former secretary of state who is mired
in an ongoing email scandal.
While Republicans are split over support for
Trump, their collective hatred of Clinton
proved a potent unifier this week in
Cleveland, where delegates clamored to
demand her imprisonment, painting her as
above the law.
In his acceptance speech, Trump
characterized Clinton as corrupt,
incompetent and hopelessly out of touch,
saying she left a legacy of "death,
destruction, terrorism and weakness."
Republican Party chief Reince Priebus
dismissed Clinton's choice of running mate
in a scornful tweet, saying "Hillary Clinton's
choice of Tim Kaine does nothing to unify a
fractured Democrat base repelled by her
dishonesty & cronyism."
But he stopped short of attacking Kaine
himself -- a sign, perhaps, of his strength as
a consensus candidate, as reflected in the
response of another Republican, Arizona
Senator Jeff Flake.
"Trying to count the ways I hate @timkaine.
ng a blank. Congrats to a good man
and a good friend," he tweeted...
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