The Swing-State Appeal of Mr. Kaine
By THE NYT EDITORIAL BOARD
JULY 22, 2016




Hillary Clinton’s choice of Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate is a safe and solid choice in an election that will almost certainly become nastier.

Mr. Kaine, former Virginia governor, lieutenant governor and Richmond mayor, is respected and steeped in the politics of Virginia, a bellwether Southern battleground whose economy is undergoing the type of trade- and technology-related shifts that are an important factor in this election.

As a staunch Catholic with blue-collar roots, who grew up in Kansas City, Mo., he is likely to give Mrs. Clinton a needed boost among white men and independent voters. His fluency in Spanish — he was a missionary in Honduras — should also help him reach out to Latinos.

Politically, Mr. Kaine, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, is a moderate with a pro-trade bent. Mrs. Clinton was said to have been torn among several candidates for the job. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts or Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio were favored by Bernie Sanders’s liberal supporters, but Mrs. Clinton has already tacked somewhat to the left and they might not have been seen as balancing the ticket.

Mr. Kaine delivers a potential advantage among moderate swing-state voters who might have been harder for Mrs. Clinton to attract.

His political success as a liberal Democrat — with a perfect score from Planned Parenthood and an F rating from the National Rifle Association — in a state with a deeply conservative tradition shows an ability to retain his principles while being pragmatic enough to work with Republicans.

“He always finds reasons for hope and optimism in every situation, and he is centered by his faith and his family,” Senator Mark Warner, who was governor of Virginia when Mr. Kaine was lieutenant governor, said in a statement.

A Morning Consult survey conducted earlier this month found that over all, 11 percent of all voters and 20 percent of Democrats said his name on the ticket would make them more likely to support Mrs. Clinton. On issues, he’s very similar to Mrs. Clinton.

One knock on the wonky Mr. Kaine is that he is “boring.” Mrs. Clinton says that she loves that about him. As well she should. An experienced, no-surprises politician like Mr. Kaine provides Mrs. Clinton with important ballast for the stormy and unpredictable race ahead.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/opinion/the-swing-state-appeal-of-mr-kaine.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region