Why Hillary should pick Senator Tim Kaine for VP

Meet the pool of Hillary Clinton’s Vice Presidential picks:  Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro, and Tim Kaine.  All members of this short list are prominent, charismatic Democrats, but only one is Hillary’s wisest choice.

Although liberal firebrand Elizabeth Warren can effectively rally the base, she is a poor choice demographically-speaking. The prospect of a first female president, inspiring though it may be, is uncharted waters for America.  Every first-something President did not win an election by doubling down on his particular demographic appeal with the Vice President.  The first Catholic President (from Massachusetts) picked a Protestant from Texas, and the first (young) African-American President chose an (older) white man.  The first female President should not pick another woman from the Northeast as her running mate.

Warren has been successfully stumping for Hillary. She can galvanize the more leftist wing of the Party sans VP candidacy. In this election, the staunch liberal from Massachusetts would make a great right-hand woman and, perhaps, an outstanding future cabinet member.

Demographics, likewise, are not in Julian Castro’s favor.  A captivating speaker and rising national Democrat, the current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development would definitely spark enthusiasm with Hispanics.  But with the opposition’s candidate referring to most Mexican immigrants as “rapists” (among other racist rhetoric), Democrats would be wasting their time in trying to raise already high Hispanic support. Hillary – because of Trump-induced Hispanic enthusiasm – already holds a significant lead in the most important swing state: Florida.

Castro also firmly supports affirmative action; with a 1210 SAT score, Castro himself only gained admittance to Stanford University because of his race. Debate the merits of affirmative action as you will, but giving preferential treatment to minorities is deeply unpopular with whites voters. And whites are estimated to constitute more than seventy percent of the electorate.

The former mayor of San Antonio can be a key player for the Democrats, just not as Hillary’s Vice President.

Now meet Tim Kaine, former Governor of and current Senator from Virginia.

Yes, Kaine, like Hillary, embodies the Democratic Establishment, the foe of far-left Sanders supporters in the Democratic primary.  But the Bernie or Bust movement is declining, and Trump is focused almost exclusively on the white everyman vote. Hillary can still maintain the support of the base, and Kaine can siphon votes from Trump-leaning demographic groups.

Kaine can help welcome moderates and traditional, center-right Republicans to the 2016 Democratic voting bloc.  Many republicans loathe Trump (George Will, conservative intellectual stalwart, recently renounced his party membership because of Trump’s nomination), but they have equal contempt for Hillary.  If the Dems want to collect more non-Democratic voters for Hillary, they can only do so by supplementing the ticket with a center-left blue dog like Tim Kaine.   So how exactly would Kaine appeal to white, center-leaning voters?

Senator Kaine went to the University of Missouri for undergraduate and Harvard for law, a healthy populist/elite balance (unlike Hillary, who hails from Wellesley College and Yale Law School).  Kaine went to a Midwestern state school and still manages to speak more eloquently than the UPenn-educated Republican nominee with “the best words.”  He may be a national party favorite, but he’s still a local boy: the Senator has spent his entire political career in Virginia.

Kaine positions himself as a pragmatic liberal, in the vein of Bill Clinton, JFK, and other non-ideologoues. He is a pro-choice Catholic who is personally pro-life; a friend to the industrial worker who backed a coal plant against the wishes of environmentalists; a Senator who pushed to authorize use of military force against ISIS.

With Hillary’s growing support from progressives and staunch support from nonwhite voters,  Kaine can collect support from white moderates, average Joes, and regular citizens in perennial battleground states Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Virginia.

I’ll admit, Kaine is not as enthusiastic as Warren or Castro. But Senator Kaine – contrary to what he says jokingly in an interview with Chuck Todd – is not boring, either: he gave a keynote speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. It was a charming and persuasive endorsement for Obama’s re-election.

The Washington Post gave dossiers on each potential VP candidate, listing their potential pros and cons for the candidacy.  The only blemish the Post could point out on Kaine’s resume was that his leaving his post might cost the Dems a Senate Seat (even though Virginia tilts blue and currently has two Dem Senators). Hardly a compelling reason: Joe Biden and Al Gore both put their Senate seats up for grabs.

The Post cannot seem to find any significant fault with Tim Kaine as a potential VP pick, and neither can I.

And, Kaine is humble to boot.  Two months ago, in an interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski, Kaine playfully dismissed VP gossip about him, stating that he loves his current job.

Sure Senator, that’s what they all say.