News / USA Clinton, VP Pick Kaine, Project Optimism in First Joint Campaign Event
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News / USA
Clinton, VP Pick Kaine, Project Optimism in First Joint Campaign Event
VOA News
Last updated on: July 23, 2016 2:05 PM
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine are campaigning together for the first time as running mates, promoting a message of optimism after a Republican convention where many speakers warned America is in decline.
Clinton introduced Kaine to a crowd of enthusiastic supporters, saying the two of them will "offer a very different vision" for America that emphasizes "building bridges, not walls." She said the Democratic convention next week will focus on the message that "embracing diversity" makes America great.
Clinton portrayed Kaine as a fighter for minorities and the impoverished, who is "everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not." She emphasized his support for tighter restrictions on guns, his support for women's rights to make their own decision on having an abortion, and called him a supporter of equality for gay and transgender rights, and a supporter of immigration reform.
Kaine criticized Republican nominee Donald Trump, saying the businessman "leaves a trail of wrecked lives everywhere he goes."
Kaine spoke in Spanish in parts of his address in which he introduced himself to voters, talking about his family, his values growing up, and his career as a mayor, a governor and U.S. Senator. He said his family embraced the values "faith, family and work."
Kaine is a veteran Democratic politician who describes himself as "boring." He is a moderate, who has the potential to attract voters repelled by Donald Trump and those who may have a hard time fully embracing Clinton.
"He's never lost an election. He was a world-class mayor, governor, and senator and is one of the most highly-respected senators I know," Clinton told CBS news.
"The most important consideration is his ability to step in as president, and he clearly has the experience, knowledge, intelligence and temperament to do that," Jocelyn Bucaro, an Ohio super-delegate and a Clinton supporter, said about Kaine.
The 58-year-old Kaine was born in Minnesota and is a Harvard-educated lawyer. Harvard is the same law school that turned out President Barack Obama.
Kaine, who is fluent in Spanish, took a year off from Harvard to work as a Catholic missionary and teacher in Honduras.
According to his biography, Kaine observed poverty up close in Central America and saw what it can do to the human spirit. His time there is said to have helped form his support for citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the United States — a stance likely to attract Latino voters.
Ben Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota, said Clinton "has chosen a running mate that has a track record of advocating and fighting for the issues that affect the Latino community and our nation: immigration, health care, women's rights and the environment."
Kaine's vice presidential candidacy may disappoint some progressive Democrats. Some had hoped that after Bernie Sanders' pro-socialist policy speeches attracted wide support during the primary campaign, Clinton would choose a more liberal candidate.
Some activists say Clinton's choice could alienate African Americans because of Kaine's embrace of Project Exile while he was Richmond's mayor.
Kaine supported the now-defunct project, which sought to reduce gun violence. Project Exile made gun possession a federal crime, which allowed prosecutors to send convicted felons to distant federal prisons for at least five years.
Nicole Lee, a civil rights lawyer, said "These measures were not used against white kids in the suburbs with guns, they were used against black kids in the cities."
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