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| Sen. Tim Kaine (AP photo by J. Scott Applewhite) |
Numerous media reports this week had Kaine and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, as the last two finalists in the Clinton veepstakes. A selection of Vilsack would have signaled the targeting of "white working-class men — especially in rural areas — in the Midwest," also being targeted by Donald Trump with his pick of Indiana Gov Mike Pence, Gabriel DeBenedetti and Helena Bottemiller Evich reported for Politico Tuesday.
Clinton and Vilsack have known each other for 40 years, and he supported her when he dropped out of the presidential race in 2007. But when his name surfaced as a finalist, some African Americans questioned it, giving his hasty firing of USDA official Shirley Sherrod, a black woman, in 2010 after she was misquoted by a right-wing news site.
Kaine started his political career on the Richmond City Council, which elected him mayor, then was lieutenant governor. "As governor of Virginia, Mr. Kaine appealed to both Democrats in urban pockets and independents in rural areas, and established a reputation as a pragmatic consensus builder," writes Amy Chozick of The New York Times. But his main appeal in the 2012 Senate race was to swing voters in Northern Virginia, and when he made an appearance with Clinton in Virginia last week, it was in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Annandale.
Kaine's main electoral assets appear to be his residence — Virginia is a swing state with 13 electoral votes — and his fluency in Spanish, which will help turn out Hispanic voters in several other swing states.
from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2agHRdr Selection of Kaine leaves open to question how hard Clinton will compete for rural votes - Entrepreneur Generations
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