President Barack Obama hailed Sen. Tim Kaine's optimism. | AP Photo Obama: Kaine is a 'progressive fighter'

Hillary Clinton now has a running mate in Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, and President Barack Obama is on board with the pick.

In a Democratic Party fundraising email sent under Obama's name Saturday morning, the president heaps praise on Kaine, who also made Obama's VP shortlist in 2008, picking out moments like the Virginia Tech massacre to show the then-governor's ability to stand up and be a leader.


"Like Hillary, Tim is an optimist. But like Hillary, he is also a progressive fighter," Obama wrote.

Clinton announced Kaine as her running mate late Friday. The presumptive Democratic nominee is scheduled to hold campaign rally on Saturday in Florida to formally introduce him to supporters ahead of next week's Democratic convention in Philadelphia.

Obama went on to say: "He's the son of a teacher and an iron worker who's always got working families on his mind. He spent nearly two decades and specialized in representing people who had been denied fair access to housing just because of what they looked like, or because they they had a disability. And when a gunman killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech, Tim knew he had a responsibility as governor to offer more than thoughts and prayers to the community he mourned with -- and as a gun owner, he stood up to the gun lobby on their behalf."

Kaine, Obama concludes, is a "true progressive" who "will make a great vice president," and "you just can't find anyone with a bad thing to say about him."

The email was sent by the Hillary Victory Fund, the joint fundraising commitee between Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee.