Tim Kaine gave a pretty good speech today in Miami. He was warm, earnest and self-deprecating. He fulfilled the VP’s traditional attack dog role without a hint of meanness.
Overall, I’d call it a great roll-out. I was especially moved by what he had to say on guns. He nearly choked up at one point, recalling the Virginia Tech shooting when he was governor.
Kaine seems like a great fit for the Clinton campaign. But one unique Kaine asset I haven’t seen noted by Democrats was raised by Peggy Noonan nearly eight years ago when Kaine was being considered as a running mate for President Obama: Kaine’s haircut. No, really:
I end with a thought on the upcoming announcements of vice presidential picks. Major props to both campaigns for keeping it tight, who it’s going to be, for by now they should know and have, please God, fully vetted him or her. On the Democrats, who are up first, I firmly announce I like every name floated so far, for different reasons (Joe Biden offers experience and growth; Evan Bayh seems by nature moderate; Sam Nunn is that rare thing, a serious man whom all see as a serious man.) But part of me tugs for Tim Kaine of Virginia, because he has a wonderful American Man haircut, not the cut of the man in first but the guy in coach who may be the air marshal. He looks like he goes once every 10 days to Jimmy Hoffa’s barber and says, “Gimme a full Detroit.”
That settles it then. I suspect Noonan finds Kaine’s no-nonsense ‘do especially reassuring when contrasted with Trump’s gravity-defying quadruple-combover. We can count on at least one cross-over Republican vote on the Upper West Side.