Three reasons why Hillary Clinton chose Tim Kaine
John Cassidy
On Friday, word that Hillary Clinton would pick Senator Tim Kaine, of Virginia, as her running mate spread across the Internet, accompanied by a chilly reaction from some quarters. There have been complaints from the left that Kaine isnt progressive enough, which isnt exactly surprising. (The Warren wing of the Democratic Party isnt so-named for nothing: it wanted Elizabeth Warren to get the job.) Some Hispanic groups were sure to be disappointed if Clinton didnt pick a Latino, which is understandable, too. And some journalists have complained that Kaine isnt an exciting enough choicea recent headline at The New Republic read, Tim Kaine Is Too Boring To Be Clintons Running Mate.
Nevertheless, when the announcement came, on Friday evening, Kaine was the pick. Im thrilled to announce my running mate, @TimKaine, a man whos devoted his life to fighting for others, Clinton tweeted. Despite the grumbles, there are at least three reasons why Kaine was the predictable, and perhaps the right, choice.
The first is that many people associated with Clintons campaign believe, despite a recent narrowing in the polls, that she is well-placed to win in November. Were Team Clinton hugely concerned that Hispanics and other minorities wont turn out in the numbers that they did for Barack Obama, it would surely have gone with a member of a visible minorityJulin Castro, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, or New Jerseys Senator Cory Booker, say. If Team Clinton was seriously worried that Bernie Sanderss supporters would defect to the Green Party in large numbers, or stay at home on Election Day, it might have taken a chance on Warren as Vice-President, despite the fact that the senator from Massachusetts and Clinton have long had a cool relationship.
But Donald Trumps clinching of the Republican nomination has allayed many of the concerns among the Clinton campaign about turnout and Party unity. His role, in this regard, is not unlike the one played, during the Troubles in Ireland, by Sir Ian Paisley, the firebrand Protestant preacher and Unionist politician, whom an Irish Republican Army soldier reportedly described as the best recruiting sergeant weve got. As long as Trumps name is on the ballot, Democrats will show up in droves to keep him away from the Oval Office.
Of course, even a confident Presidential campaign wants to make a Vice-Presidential pick that will help it to win, and it can be argued that Kaine will do that. He comes from a swing state. He speaks fluent Spanish. He has strong ties to the African-American community, which date back to his days as a civil-rights lawyer and then as the mayor of Richmond, where about half of the population is black. And Kaine is the son of a welder who ran a shop in Kansas City, Missouri, so he has some understanding of the concerns of white working-class voters.
A second reason that Kaine is a good fit for Clinton is that they are cut from the same political cloth. Both are Ivy League-educated lawyers, as well as mainstream Democrats who express a strong commitment to righting social wrongs, but also speak the language of fiscal responsibility and enterprise.
When Kaine became the mayor of Richmond, in 1998, it was because a City Council with a majority of black members selected him for the job. (The office wasnt decided by popular vote until 2004.) He rustled up money to build new public schools and used tax breaks to encourage businesses and homeowners to set up in the city. In 2005, when he ran to replace Mark Warner as the governor of Virginia, it was as a moderate who would cut taxes for homeowners. He scored a surprise victory over his Republican opponent, Jerry Kilgore, a former state attorney general, and spent the majority of his tenure dealing with the Great Recession and its aftermath, when tax revenues plummeted. The reviews of his governorship, which lasted until 2010, vary.
Since entering the Senate, in 2012, Kaine has maintained his reputation as a moderate. According to the Web site Progressive Punch, which issues a Progressive Score for each senator based on his or her voting record, Kaine ranks fortieth in the Senate, with a score that is practically identical to Warner, his Virginia colleague. This record isnt liberal enough for some progressive groups, which point to Kaines support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, and for loosening regulatory restrictions on some large regional banks.
However, it really isnt fair to portray Kaine as a closet conservative or old-school Blue Dog Democrat. In a state with a lot of gun owners, he has long pressed for more gun-control measures, a stance which earned him an F grade from the National Rifle Association. He also has a liberal record on issues affecting women, labor, and minorities. Brian Fallon, Clintons spokesman, pointed out on Twitter that since Kaine joined the Senate he has received very high ratings from Planned Parenthood, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and the N.A.A.C.P.
And Kaines Senate record isnt very different from that of Democratic senators in other states that elect a lot of Republicans. According to the Progressive Punch index, the four Democratic senators whose voting records are less progressive than his are Claire McCaskill, of Missouri; Joe Donnelly, of Indiana; Joe Manchin, of West Virginia; and Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota. Clinton, with her history in Arkansas, is well aware of the pressures that Democrats in red and purple states face, and she evidently sees Kaine as a fellow liberal realist and policy wonk.
A final reason that may have aided Kaines cause is his reputation as a consensus buildera team player and an affable individual. A recent Washington Post story about him ran under the headline Whats a nice guy like Sen. Tim Kaine doing in a campaign like this? It is easy to view the selection of a Vice-Presidential candidate as purely the product of political calculus. But Presidential candidates are also picking someone with whom they might work closely for four or eight years, and, when considering a potential deputy, character matters. The Clintons have known Tom Vilsack, the Agriculture Secretary, who was reportedly the other candidate on the final short list, for much longer than theyve known Kaine, but evidently, they are comfortable with Kaine, too.
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