Jason Noble

jnoble2@dmreg.com

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine strolled the Iowa State Fairgrounds in a surprise visit to Des Moines Wednesday, chatting up Iowans, checking out the butter cow and wolfing down a chop at the Iowa Pork Producers Association tent.

Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the presidential race and a U.S. senator from Virginia, dropped in at the fair after a rally in Cedar Rapids — an unscheduled stop that even the national media traveling with him wasn’t certain would happen until his motorcade rolled in through a secluded gate at the back of the fairgrounds.

He was joined on his meander by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack — the former Iowa governor who Clinton strongly considered for the spot on the presidential ticket she ultimately gave to Kaine.

“She made the right choice,” Vilsack said with Kaine at his side and between bites of pork chop underneath the awning at the pork tent.

Vilsack lavished praise on Kaine as they stood together amid the grills and under the broiling mid-afternoon sun, noting his efforts as Virginia governor to address pollution in the Chesapeake Bay — an issue with echoes in Iowa’s current water issues.

“He provided leadership and, I think, a template for how to get it done,” Vilsack said. “It requires strong leadership in the executive branch, and he brought it. There’s no question he’s a terrific running mate and a great partner for Secretary Clinton.”

At the pork tent, in the Agriculture Building and points between, Kaine moved through crowds from the center of a free-flowing mob of aides, reporters and security personnel, stopping intermittently to chat with passers-by, posing for photos and signing autographs.

Near the butter cow, he chatted with the parents of a child with a health condition who pleaded with him to preserve the Affordable Care Act. Under the pork tent, he spoke with a family in Spanish.

In all, he was on the fairgrounds for about 45 minutes.

“We have a good fair in Virginia, but no pork chops,” Kaine said, brandishing an Iowa chop fresh off the grill. “Turkey legs, yes; pork chops, no. That’s the difference. But these are very, very good.”

Winning Iowa in November, he said, depends on Democrats “making the case every day.”

“It’s going to be close,” he said. “Run like the underdog, make the case every day.”

At one point, he was trailed by staffers from the Republican Party of Iowa, who carried hand fans bearing GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign logo and likening Kaine to a weather vane.

Also joining Kaine on the visit: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Patty Judge and 3rd District congressional candidate Jim Mowrer.

The circumstances were certainly different Wednesday, but this wasn’t Kaine’s first Iowa State Fair: he’d previously attended in 2010 on a trip to Iowa as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

His appearance Wednesday did mark the first visit to the fair by a member of a presidential ticket this year, although Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence is expected to drop in Saturday.

Iowa’s 11-day agricultural celebration is billed as one of the nation’s largest and draws tens of thousands of visitors daily. Politics has long been a staple of the festivities.

In 2012, both Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan visited the fair, and presidential candidates vying to win Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses routinely make the rounds in the year preceding the primary contests.

Both Clinton and GOP nominee Donald Trump spent a day at the fair last year.

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