Veep Watch: Kaine in the news, a selection coming soon?
Hot Obama Veep contender VA Gov. Tim Kaine was back in the spotlight today, giving a big speech at the meeting of the Southern Governors’ Association in West Virginia.
Kaine spoke about two issues near and dear to Obama and the national Democratic Party, climate change and alternative energy. A push to show he’s knowledgeable on serious national issues? Maybe…
“The issue of energy and how we will we provide power for homes, businesses, transportation has gone from a back-burner issue to a front-burner issue — thank goodness,” Kaine told a meeting of the Southern Governors’ Association on the final day of its annual conference, held at The Greenbrier resort.
“There is no doubt that the science shows that climate change is happening,” he said.
Kaine had been off the national radar screen as he took a few days off for a family vacation and then spent the weekend simply working the rooms at the SGA convention. That didn’t cool off speculation as to his potential future on the Dem ticket, but it did allow a name like Evan Bayh to move to the top of that vaunted Veep list.
Kaine looks more and more promising as Obama’s final choice with new consideration of whether Virginia is truly in play for the Dems in November. Parsing the polls finds a strong core of Republican resistance that overwhelms most of the commonwealth outside of the D.C. suburbs and parts of Richmond.
Does Kaine as Veep have the ability to move greater swaths of VA into Obama’s camp? It’s the ultimate gamble, because Bayh probably gives the largest national benefit (though it’s still very small) owing to his better name recognition and reputation as a true moderate Senator.
But your guess is as good as ours when it comes to the timing of Obama’s announcement. New rumors have it coming immediately following the Olympics…
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Looking forward to this Sunday’s scheduled discussion between Gov Pawlenty (for McCain) and Gov Bayh (for Obama)….because you’re looking at the two Vice Presidential picks….don’t need twitter nor text messaging to see the obvious….
Their internal polling shows those two candidates with the best match up, and vetted down to their boxers or briefs…..