I'm not thrilled about Kaine

[one_voice]

possibly being the VP choice.

I don't agree with some of what he stands for.

But since we're overdosing on VP's and how important they are. I'll take Kaine's record over Pence's record all day long.

**If** we're really talking about how important Veeps are.

s/n let's not forget Trump says he plans to delegate a lot of duties to his Veep. Pence! No thank you!

[RBInMaine]

1. You should be thrilled. He's great in MANY ways. It's not a rock concert, its the presidency.

[one_voice]

4. Who said anything about a rock concert?..

there are things I don't agree with. I'm entitled to that.

You wanna be thrilled about it, have at it. I'm not.

I think there are others that are great in MANY ways & I agree with them more.

[hamsterjill]

9. Well, our side understands that.

The other side? I'm not so sure. They are loving the reality television episode they call a campaign.

Hopefully, the ones in the middle, the independents and undecideds are smart enough to see that it is a presidency at stake.

I'm trying to warm to Kaine, but I have my concerns. I will certainly be voting for Hillary, but I just feel she had better options.

[Maven]

13. I don't know why you seem to be allergic to the idea of picking someone that excites voters

What's wrong with that?

[RonniePudding]

2. That's how I feel

And let's face it, Drumpf didn't exactly light the world on fire with Pence.

It's a missed opportunity IMO, but plenty more opportunities to come. You don't have to cash in on them all to win a presidential election.

He's a decent, competent guy. That works for me.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

3. There is no such thing as a perfect candidate. Even though Warren and Brown are my favorites...

They are not perfect on ALL issues.

Kaine makes sense and is the safest, most logical choice.

----

I had forgotten all the work that Kaine did in Hondoras, working on behalf of the poor.

I had forgotten that he speaks Spanish fluently.

I had forgotten that he is a Civil Rights attorney.

He was a mayor, a governor, and now a senator. DGA and DNC chairman.

He really isn't that controversial.

And as for the gay marriage issue, I'm willing to bet that he regrets his past stance. I can't see him not being for marriage equality NOW!

[Squinch]

5. I'm not thrilled about him either, but I understand that in the real world his usefulness to us

might lie specifically in the fact that you and I don't particularly like him.

You and I are already on board. Maybe he'll get some people who are not, and getting those people via a VP position, where he can't do much and his replacement in Congress will be a Democrat, seems sensible.

[CrowCityDem]

6. I love Warren too, but it's funny the anti-Kaine crowd is championing a former Republican.

[StevieM]

12. I just think there are better choices. I would prefer Vilsack. Or better yet, Xavier Becerra. (eom)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Me either. But the importance of a running mate is often exaggerated.

VPs have no constitutional power except as backup for the president and breaking ties in the Senate, so the opinions and previous policies of the running mate are irrelevant. VPs don't make policy; as a member of the administration the VP is expected to go along with the administration's policies. A running mate can, however, add some excitement and enthusiasm to a ticket, and I think Kaine is lacking in those qualities, but the actual effect of the running mate on the outcome of an election is usually minimal, since voters vote for the top of the ticket. A really bad pick (*cough* Palin *cough*) can be damaging, of course; but just because the VP pick is from your state doesn't mean you're going to vote for the ticket if you didn't care for the presidential candidate in the first place. Kaine won't bring Virginia if Virginians aren't convinced by Hillary. But he also won't scare people like Palin did.

That said, I'd really prefer someone else - but Kaine isn't a deal-breaker for me, considering the weapons-grade awfulness of Trump and Pence.

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. VP's are more important than ever.

We live in crazy times.

[vi5]

10. Personally speaking...

..the VIP to me in most cases represents the future of the party. Since in many cases (Obama being the exception since he needed to bring a little more experience to the fold) the VP will ideally run for Prez after the current 8 years (again, ideally) is up.

To me this says that HRC and the party leaders see someone like Kaine as the future of the party.

Hell, I don't like Booker at all but I would have been fine with that since at least it represents a continuation of the change to represent the true face of America.

Any enthusiasm I'd been gaining for Hillary will go right out the window if Kaine is her pick. It will formally signal to me that I'm done with the Democratic party as a supporter, donor, worker, and everything else other than maybe sometimes a vote if it's essential (as it is with HRC against Trump).

[OKNancy]

11. I looked on "vote smart" - He's not bad at all

http://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/50772/tim-kaine#.V5JCULiANBc

and also "on the issues" page http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Tim_Kaine.htm