RICHMOND — Former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, offering a glimpse of what’s to come in his campaign for the U.S. Senate, said Wednesday that he has no intention of backing away from his friendship with President Obama or his support for big-ticket Democratic initiatives, as so many others in his party tried to do in the 2010 midterms. In embracing his connections to Washington and national Democrats, Kaine is attempting to blunt Republican efforts to turn those ties against him during the campaign. Though Kaine only announced his candidacy Tuesday, Republicans are already blasting him as a “cheerleader” for the unpopular Obama and tying him to massive spending initiatives favored by Democrats, including the economic stimulus package and the health care overhaul.
“I don’t need to back away from anything, and I don’t really view that I need to establish myself as a Virginia candidate,” said Kaine, a former mayor of Richmond who was serving as chairman of the Democratic National Committee before entering the race. “I’ve worked hard at my city and worked hard in my commonwealth, and I think I know what are the issues that matter to Virginians.”
Kaine is running to replace Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who announced in February that he would not seek a second term in 2012. At least four Republicans are also vying for the job, including former senator and governor George Allen, who is heavily favored in the GOP primary.
Kaine said he would tout his credentials as a proven “crisis manager,” who as governor between 2006 to 2010 presided over Virginia as the country was entering the throes of the recession. The nation, he said, could learn from Virginia’s example on jobs and the economy, fiscal responsibility and a statewide tradition of moderation and civility.
In a speech at a University of Richmond Law Review symposium Wednesday, Kaine praised a key element of the Democratic agenda that so many others judge to be a liability in Virginia, including the economic stimulus package that he said made significant, beneficial investments in education and alternative energy.
Kaine called himself a “proud Democrat” but an independent thinker.
“When I was DNC chair, nobody ever asked me to say anything I didn’t agree with or believe,” he said. “That’s not how I operate, in my personal life or in my political life.”
Virginia figures to be crucial for Obama’s re-election chances — and Kaine said he suspects the president, a personal friend and ally, will be spending a lot of time in the state, where Obama’s popularity has dipped since the 2008 election in which he became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1964.
“The president and I are friends, and I support him and support the job that he’s doing,” Kaine said. “I definitely hope he’s here in Virginia. … Virginia is now recognized as one of the central battlegrounds in American politics.”
