MIAMI — Those close to Hillary Clinton insist she chose Tim Kaine as her running mate because she knows she can work with him, because he’s safe and solid, because he was the obvious choice.

It doesn’t hurt that he also offers her a prime opportunity to contrast with Donald Trump — over and over and over.


“Sen. Tim Kaine is everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not,” Clinton said Saturday to the rapturous applause of over 5,000 Miamians at Florida International University, the first of many favorable comparisons she drew between Kaine and the GOP ticket. “While he was taking on housing discrimination and homelessness, Donald Trump was denying apartments.”

But the Kaine contrast campaign started hours before his name — long expected to be the last one left on the presumptive Democratic nominee's short list — was even printed on the new Clinton-Kaine banners displayed throughout the arena here.

Teasing that the VP announcement would likely come on Friday, but not saying exactly when, Clinton’s campaign ensured that the political world watched closely throughout the day as she stormed through Orlando and Tampa on her first day of campaigning in Florida, which offers more electoral votes than any other swing state.

Shortly after a scowling, boisterous Trump appeared to be digging back into his own primary fight with Ted Cruz by resurfacing debunked claims that the Texas senator’s father was somehow involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Clinton solemnly met Friday with local leaders — including an imam — and families of victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, preaching tolerance and inclusion. She visited the makeshift memorial outside the club, speaking with first responders and laying down flowers. That night, as anticipation of the vice-presidential pick was at a high point, she delivered a stinging rebuke of Trump’s convention to a crowd of 3,600 in Tampa, delivering images of a packed, energetic crowd to television screens across the country as viewers waited for the news.

Then, at long last, the second half of the one-two punch landed. It was official: She’d chosen the sunny former city councilman, mayor, governor, party chairman and current senator — the one who was vetted eight years ago, who has scores of former staffers working for Clinton already — as the one best positioned to bolster her central argument that Trump is fundamentally unprepared, and unfit, for the White House.

“Tim Kaine, in certain circles, is practically renowned for his optimism. I’ve heard him described as a happy warrior on more than one occasion, and I think that’s an apt description,” said Democratic strategist Lynda Tran, a former top Kaine aide. “I don’t think it’s actually all that high of a bar to cross to present a more optimistic vision of the country than Donald Trump. That said, there’s a power behind that character trait that [Kaine’s] opponents in the past have found devastating."

The appearance of Kaine and Clinton together as a ticket for the first time showed precisely why she picked him: He’s perfectly comfortable playing second fiddle to the nominee and won’t go rogue. It was four minutes into Clinton’s speech before she acknowledged Kaine, and 13 minutes more before Kaine got to speak. The whole time Kaine sat patiently in a chair behind her, grinning from ear to ear.

When it was finally Kaine’s turn to speak, he began humbly and concentrated his praise on Clinton, only pivoting to praise for himself later.

“I’m feeling a lot of things today. Most of all gratitude. I’m grateful to you Hillary, for the trust you placed in me,” Kaine said, Clinton nodding approvingly behind him. “Today like every day I’m especially grateful to my wife, Anne, and my three kids.”

His extended speech — which thanked Clinton, introduced himself and railed against Trump — stole the show, bringing the crowd to its feet at times and to solemn silence at others.

He thanked naturalized citizens — a significant population in Miami — for being there, and spoke of his time as governor during the Virginia Tech shooting.

And it didn’t take long for Kaine to roll out the Spanish he picked up from a missionary year in Honduras. His easy bilingual shifts played well with the diverse crowd at this heavily Latino university, and he played to the crowd by plugging what he learned in Central America: “Fe, familia y trabajo.” (Faith, family, and work.)

The contrast with Trump — who has yet to share time at an extended rally with Pence — was clear.

People close to Clinton and her political circles acknowledge that the choice wasn’t about winning any one state or a single constituency — ensuring no single group felt slighted was just as much of a concern.

“It’s the old adage, you pick the best player available. There’s not one thing they desperately needed,” said former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges. “He’s big with the Obama people, he was pretty courageous in being the first governor out there for Obama [in 2008]. For African-American voters, this is a guy who put his political future on the line for the first African-American president. [But] he satisfies a lot of constituencies: Latino voters, African-American voters and independents who are trying to make a decision."

Sure, he could help with the working-class white men targeted by Trump, note Democrats pleased by his selection. But with the more dynamic trail presences of Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders by her side, Clinton is unlikely to rely solely on her new running mate to fire up that constituency.

Kaine openly acknowledged his relative anonymity even in his own party.

“Let’s be honest, for many of you this is the first time you’ve heard my name,” Kaine said.

With the political machine of Virginia governor — and close Clinton family friend — Terry McAuliffe supporting her, Clinton’s team has long felt better about Virginia than previous Democratic candidates have, so expectations aren’t as high on Kaine to deliver his home state, even though he ran better there on the ballot than Obama in 2012.

Instead, he’s the anti-Trump, in place not to fire up anyone, but to provide reassurance. After all, if Clinton wins Virginia, Trump’s path to the White House is exceedingly narrow. If she wins Florida, where Kaine is being rolled out, it's next to impossible for Trump. And that's without even North Carolina, Kaine's next-door neighbor.

Trump and his team spent Saturday morning seeding negative vibes about Kaine, blasting him for receiving thousands of dollars in gifts as governor and for, earlier this week, praising the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Kaine is now expected to oppose after joining the ticket. Trump trotted out a new moniker for the Virginia senator: “Corrupt Kaine.”

And Trump tried to play to disaffected Sanders supporters who loathe the TPP, calling Kaine a supporter and Sanders’ backers “last choice.” Indeed, liberals were not pushing for Kaine, not with the likes of Elizabeth Warren or Sherrod Brown available, two progressive senators viewed as far more rock-ribbed on issues dear to the Democrats’ left flank. The only momentary snafu at the rally came from angry liberals, who chanted “DNC Leaks” for a minute before being escorted out, a reference to leaked emails showing DNC staffers maneuvering against Sanders.

In the face of such progressive skepticism, Kaine talked up his fights against the NRA, called for debt-free college and said the ticket will pass comprehensive immigration reform after “tres años” of waiting for the House to do something.

“He is a progressive who likes to get things done. That’s just my kind of guy,” Clinton said.

“Tim Kaine is genuinely progressive in a way that is rooted in a deep personal faith. That will come across as a passion when he is fighting for things like economic justice and economic opportunity,” said Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware. “Tim is not someone who compromises his core progressive values.”

The words “centrist” or moderate” never came up when describing Kaine — even if he is a deal-making senator friendly with a number of Senate Republicans. Those attributes may not fire up voters, but they will be highly useful if Kaine finds himself sitting in the vice president’s office next January.

“The Clintons have been there before, and they know better than most candidates to do what it takes to actually govern, and then what it takes to get the job done,” said Dan Kanninen, a senior Virginia adviser to Obama in 2012. ”I always thought the folks who were getting mentioned that would inject, quote, ‘energy’ into the ticket weren’t all that serious because they weren’t necessarily the kinds of people she would want to govern with."

