Obama Raising Kaine?
... Draw your own conclusions.
Despite being a frontrunner for "veep" selection, I can't help but think that Kaine is a light-weight whose entire career hinges on having merely been at the right place at the right time.
Because Virginia law does not allow governors to succeed themselves, second (or third) tier candidates like Kaine sometimes make it to "the show". In short, Kaine is essentially the Democrats' version of Jim Gilmore.
In reality, he is -- at best -- the third best "veep" pick for Obama from Virginia. Clearly, Mark Warner (who is running for the senate) is superior to Kaine -- and I would also argue that Jim Webb is probably better, too.
But Virginia seems to be the state that Obama has determined he will flip. And so conventional wisdom seems to favor Kaine. I do feel sorry for Kaine, however. The media has decided it can't -- or won't -- mock Obama. As such, his "veep" pick will probably endure being turned into Dan Quayle. And Tim Kaine is ripe for this sort of characterization. Just give it time ...