Kaine praises Biden, admits relief at end of VP speculation

RICHMOND

Calling the process surrounding his vice presidential candidacy “surreal,” Gov. Timothy M. Kaine Saturday morning spoke with reporters about when he learned he wouldn’t be on the ticket with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and what his political future holds.

Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, announced Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate in an e-mail sent in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Hours later in a conference call from Denver, Kaine praised Biden as a lawmaker with an “amazing public service record” and “a man of great heart.”

Kaine cited Biden’s foreign policy experience and legislative accomplishments, including the 1994 Violence Against Women Act designed to curb domestic violence.

Sounding relaxed, Kaine acknowledged relief that the storm of speculation about the No. 2 spot was over.

“It was kind of a ‘beyond your wildest dreams’ experience to be mentioned,” the governor said. “It was flattering . . . but not anything I ever sought or asked for.”

Kaine is in Denver with his family to participate in the Democratic National Convention, which starts Monday.

Obama and Biden are expected to appear jointly today in Springfield, Ill., where Obama announced his presidential bid in 2007, before heading to Denver.

After more media interviews today, Kaine said that he and his wife Anne Holton and their three children are scheduled to attend a baseball game between the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds.

Then he’ll pivot to do his Democratic duty on behalf of the Obama-Biden ticket; Kaine was one of the earliest officials outside of Illinois to endorse Obama and has actively campaigned for him since.

His role at the convention has not been finalized, Kaine said, before alluding to some kind of speaking slot at the political event.

“I have a mixture of feelings,” he said. He added that without the vice presidential pressure “I’m going to have a lot more fun this week.”

When pressed by reporters, Kaine declined to specify when he learned he would not be Obama’s running mate.

The Obama campaign confirmed that the two met privately Thursday morning in downtown Richmond prior to a joint appearance in nearby Chesterfield County.

Kaine also stopped short of guaranteeing that he will fulfill the remaining time on his term as governor if Obama is elected president and offers him an administration job.

“It is my complete intention to be governor through January 2010,” Kaine averred.

Those remaining 16 months are almost certain to be filled with challenges.

One of Kaine’s first tasks will be making perhaps hundreds of millions in cuts to the state budget due to the anemic economy. He also will continue to wrestle with a somewhat hostile General Assembly, half of which is controlled by Republicans, over issues like transportation, education funding, gun control measures and environmental protections.

While the month-long speculation about his chance to be a running mate came with some “tensions,” Kaine said, political observers say the attention is a generally positive for the governor.

“Kaine may look like an also-ran, but he was a big winner in this process,” said University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato. “When the speculation began, his name ID outside of Virginia was around zero. Now the whole political community has learned a lot about him, and he got very favorable treatment overall.”

Julian Walker, 804-697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com