Tim Kaine has been a good governor. He's brought decency, inclusiveness, and warmth to the office which has been hugely encouraging and made some good appointments. Not a great record, but a respectable one for this state which has suffered under extreme mediocrity if not utter incompetence in the Capitol for too many years before Warner. It would be a major sacrifice to give him up for the last year of his term to the likes of Bolling and the retro GOP which would follow. It stinks! Also, I don't see Kaine adding much to Obama's campaign this year. Among other things, he has little to no foreign policy experience, lacks charisma as a public speaker, and would not be a star debater, a crucial VP contribution to the presidential campaign. So I can't get excited in anticipation over this. In fact, it's depressing in a selfish way.  

he is FAR from being even remotely progressive on the issues.  I can not count the times he has used the word "centrist" in a speech, in a positive way (Warner has done the same, by the way).  Approving a ban on partial birth abortions?  Lifting the ban on offshore drilling off the coast of VA?  And he has even less national and foreign experience then Obama.

I could not believe the people cheering last night at an Obama fundraiser in Falls Church when Deeds mentioned the possibility of a Kaine V-P selection.  What, are we stupid, people?  Do we only cheer the home team?  Is this a baseball game?  Here is my question:  Do you know ONE voter who would say "Oh, I wasn't sure if I would vote for Obama, but now that Tim Kaine is on the ticket, I will."  Sure, that's gonna have a big impact in Kansas.  I hope Obama is smarter than to make this mistake - there are a lot better qualified candidates out there who would be of benefit to the ticket, and who are qualified to lead the country should that become necessary.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Remember Obama is a conventional politician.  So, he is not likely to make a conventional choice.  He has apparently stated he is interested finding someone he is comfortable with rather picking someone for strictly strategic reasons.

for giving us a conservative Republican governor if he is selected?  What a piece of selfish work that would be for him, and a slap in the face to WE, the People, who voted convincingly NOT to have a Republican at the helm in Virginia.  He OWES us, and he is just looking out for #1, as far as I can see.  Comfortable?  Not a very inspiring criterion.  

I thought Unity 08 was a third party and Sam Waterston's pet political project.  Since when did

a) they still exist?

and

b) Kaine fundraise for them?

as VP a lot recently, as have my colleagues here at RK. Check out the diaries and comments...thanks.

Texas Take on Tim Kaine.  I pretty much agree with that - Kaine's a gregarious guy, fluent in Spanish, energetic campaigner, but I strongly disagree with him on a long list of important policy matters ranging from embryonic stem cell research to the environment to the estate tax to...well, you get the idea.