Kaine accepts VP nomination, pitches himself to a divided Democratic Party

PHILADELPHIA — One month after Tim Kaine said his critics were right to call him “boring,” the Virginia senator pitched himself to Americans as a natural fit for the bottom of the Democratic presidential ticket — and emphasized how honored he is to potentially serve in the shadow of the first female president.

In his solo debut as the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Kaine on Wednesday sought to convince the party’s progressive wing that he isn’t the lukewarm centrist they’ve imagined him to be. But after a turbulent two days of protests and a shakeup in the Democratic National Committee’s top leadership post, the 58-year-old senator wasn’t prepared to mince words either when he spoke about the importance of unity.