Will Kaine Be Obama's Veep?



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Governor Timothy M. Kaine certainly has the politically sexy bio, the regional street cred and the evangelical alliances that would be attractive to any Democratic candidate. It doesn't hurt that the governor happens to speak Spanish (Obama's not strong with that demo, as Hillary exposed) from his work as a missionary in Honduras. Granted, he is no Mark Warner -- or, for that matter, Jim Webb -- but Warner will probably take maverick-centrist John Warner's Senate seat in Virginia and, oddly, Jim Webb has decided he'd rather, for the moment at least, aspire to being the heir to Ted Kennedy in the Senate rather than Vice President of the United States of America. And so, to cement a victory in the all-important state of Virginia, which has been trending Democratic for some time now, all eyes fall on Timothy M. Kaine. From The WashPo:

"Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has told close associates that he has had 'very serious' conversations with Sen. Barack Obama about joining the Democratic presidential ticket and has provided documents to the campaign as it combs through his background, according to several sources close to Kaine.

"Sens. Evan Bayh (Ind.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) are also being seriously vetted by the campaign staff, according to sources with knowledge of the process."

UPDATE: Howard Fineman approves.