Obama raising Kaine

Alfred Biddlecomb
Published: July 30, 2008

Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Dick Cheney, . . . Tim Kaine?

That’s the buzz around Washington, D.C., this week, with Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine holding a spot on the short list to become Democrat Barack Obama’s running mate this fall. Residents here in the Old
Dominion took notice while residents of the 49 other states thought, “Tim who?”

I would have said the same thing back in 2000 had someone asked me which Virginian had the best chance of running on a future presidential ticket. Back in those days George Allen was being groomed
for the national stage with then-Gov. Jim Gilmore fresh on his heals. Mayor Tim Kaine, meanwhile, was down the street from the Governor’s Mansion arguing with the Richmond City Council over the price
of a dog tag. No one outside Illinois in 2000 had even heard of state Sen. Barack Obama.

Politics is amazing sometimes.

Today, Allen is off the political stage and probably puts more effort into renewing his University of Virginia football tickets than running for public office. Gilmore is the sacrificial lamb Republican tasked
with running for the U.S. Senate against Democrat Mark Warner (dubbed the human ATM machine by some pundits).

Stock in Allen and Gilmore were going through the roof in 2000.

Then again, so was stock in AOL.

Speculation about Tim Kaine as a vice presidential candidate is driven by two forces.

One: Kaine is interested in the job. He was an early rider on the Obama bandwagon back in the days when Hillary Clinton was the assumed Democratic nominee. Yep, he was on the ground floor during
the initial public offering of Obama stock.

Two: He’s a sexy pick (for lack of a better term). I don’t mean Burt Reynolds “Playgirl” sexy, either. Kaine is governor of a southern state. If we use the common template of presidential politics, then a
Kaine would match up well with a Yankee U.S. Senator. Governors tend to make good presidential and vice presidential candidates since they have no voting record on Capitol Hill.

Kaine is made more attractive with Virginia — for the first time in four decades — emerging as a battleground state whose 13 electoral votes carry a heavy shade of purple. Those 13 votes could swing a
close election toward Obama or McCain.

Electability and loyalty aside, is Kaine qualified for the office once held by the likes of Andrew Johnson and Spiro Agnew? He certainly looks capable of attending funerals for foreign leaders, but I don’t
think he’s capable of shooting his hunting buddy in the face with bird shot.

Politically, however, Kaine really hasn’t done much more than win elections. He’s not a powerful governor, though that’s not entirely his fault. Virginia’s constitution limits the governor to one term — a
limit on executive power that has its roots in the days when political machines ran the commonwealth.

Kaine’s inability to hammer out a decent transportation plan also works against him. While he can blame House Republicans (and there’s plenty of blame for them to take), Kaine couldn’t even rally
members of his own party around a single transportation funding package. While the GOP had no real road plan, state Democrats had too many.

Then again, no one really focuses on state politics during a presidential campaign (see Jimmy Carter’s record in Georgia and Obama’s in Illinois).

All this speculation must make Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling a happy man. Bolling would become governor if Kaine leaves to join Obama which would give Republicans an edge in next year’s General Assembly
session. Bolling announced last year that he would not run for governor in 2009, so this would be like winning the lottery.

At the end of the day, vice presidential speculation is about as logical as gambling on NFL preseason games. Still, it’s always interesting when speculation shines light on the Old Dominion. Think about
it, if our governor does win the veepstakes, we’ll end up with Bill Bolling in the Governor’s Mansion and Tim Kaine in an undisclosed location.

Alfred Biddlecomb is the former Opinion Page editor for the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger. Since he is still a resident of this area and knows quite a few things about life in Virginia,

we have asked him to contribute his thoughts to this page every Wednesday.