U.S. Senator Tim Kaine goes after Donald Trump in convention address
Virginian calls GOP standard-bearer a “one-man wrecking crew”
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
PHILADELPHIA (CFP) —U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia made his national debut as a vice presidential candidate in a speech to the Democratic National Convention in which he derided Donald Trump as not only trustworthy but as a threat to the Republic.
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine
“Our nation, it is just too great to put in the hands of a slick-talking, empty-promising, self-promoting, one-man wrecking crew,” Kaine said in a prime-time speech July 27.
Kaine, the only Southerner on a major party ticket this year, also offered effusive praise of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, saying she was ready to step into the White House.
“She is ready because of her faith. She is ready because of her heart. She is ready because of her experience. And she is ready because she knows that in America, we are stronger when we are together,” he said.
Kaine, little known outside Virginia before being selected by Clinton as her running mate, also introduced his family, including his father-in-law, Linwold Holton, a former Republican governor of Virginia whom he said would be supporting the Democratic ticket this year.
“He is voting for Democrats because any party that would nominate Donald Trump for president has moved too far away from his party of Lincoln,” he said. “If any of you are looking for that party of Lincoln, we have got a home for your right here in the Democratic Party.”
Embracing a vice presidential candidate’s traditional role as an attack dog, Kaine went after Trump, particularly over his habit of telling audiences that they should just believe that he can make major changes in Washington.
“Most people, when they run for president, they don’t just say, ‘Believe me.’ They respect you enough to tell you how they will get things done,” Kaine said.
“Not Donald Trump. He never tells you how he is going to do any of the things he says he will do. He just says, ‘Believe me.'”
Kaine, a fluent Spanish speaker who peppered his address with passages in Spanish, also sought to create a contrast with Trump by embracing American diversity.
“God has created in our country a beautiful and rich tapestry, an incredible cultural diversity that succeeds when we embrace everybody in love and battle back against the dark forces of division,” he said.
“We are all neighbors. And we must love our neighbors as ourselves.”
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wassermann Schultz out as Democratic chair
Florida congresswoman heckled by Bernie Sanders supporters at Florida delegation caucus
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
PHILADELPHIA (CFP) — Under fire for leaked internal emails containing critical comments about Bernie Sanders and his presidential campaign, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida is stepping down as chair of the Democratic National Committee.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
And after a raucous protest by Sanders supporters at a morning meeting of the Florida caucus, Wasserman Schultz abandoned plans to gavel in the first session of the Democratic National Convention July 25.
She told her hometown newspaper, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, that she canceled her appearance “in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note.”
The DNC had already decided to replace Wasserman Schultz as the permanent convention chair, a position normally filled by the party chair if the House Speaker is of the other party.
In a statement issued on the eve of the convention announcing her departure as DNC chair, Wasserman Schultz had said that she would open and close the convention and “address our delegates about the stakes involved in this election, not only for Democrats but for all Americans.”
She also said she would campaign for Hillary Clinton in the fall, whom she called “a friend I have always believed in and know will make a great president.”
The controversy over the emails generated an ugly scene at the Florida caucus meeting Monday morning, where Wasserman Schultz was heckled by Sanders supporters.
“So I can see there’s a little bit of interest in my being here, and I appreciate that interest,” she told the crowd as she struggled to be heard over the protestors.
When they would not stop, Wasserman Schultz finally fired back:
“We know that the voices in this room that are standing up and being disruptive — we know that that’s not the Florida that we know.”
Wasserman Schultz, who was Clinton’s campaign co-chair during her unsuccessful run for president in 2008, was appointed as head of the DNC in 2011 by President Obama.
Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, Sanders supporters complained that the DNC, under Wasserman Schultz’s direction, was showing favoritism toward Clinton in their intra-party tussle.
The internal emails, leaked by Wikileaks, added fuel to those complaints, with documents showing Wasserman Schultz questioning Sanders’ Democratic bona fides and criticizing some of his top campaign operatives.
The leaked emails also showed DNC officials — though not Wasserman Schultz — discussing whether to question Sanders about being an atheist.
Her contentious relationship with the Sanders campaign has spilled over in her race for re-election in Florida’s 23rd District, where she is being challenged in the Democratic primary by Sanders supporter Tim Canova, who has raised more than $2 million in an effort to unseat her.
The district takes in southern Broward County and Miami Beach.
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia is Clinton’s VP pick
Kaine is the first Virginian on a major-party ticket since 1840
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
MIAMI (CFP) — U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia has been picked by Hillary Clinton as her running mate in the coming battle against Donald Trump.
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine
Kaine was unveiled as Clinton’s choice at a rally at Florida International University in Miami July 23, where he pointedly noted that he has never lost an election in a political career that began back in 1994.
“I’m 8-0, and I promise you, I’m not about to let that change, especially when Donald Trump stands in the way of progress on every single one of these issues that Hillary has laid out as part of her campaign,” he said.
Kaine, 58, is serving his first term in the Senate. He served as governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2006 and as mayor of Richmond from 1998 to 2001.
He was also picked by President Barack Obama to head the Democratic National Committee in 2009, a position he held for two years.
A Roman Catholic, Kaine served as a Jesuit missionary in Honduras and speaks fluent Spanish. He and his wife, Anne, have three children.
Kaine’s selection as Clinton’s running mate ends a long drought for the Old Dominion in presidential politics. The last time a major party nominated a Virginian to a presidential ticket was in 1840, when John Tyler was nominated by the Whigs.
President Woodrow Wilson was a native Virginian, although he had moved to New Jersey by the time of his election in 1912.
Clinton told the Miami audience that Kaine “is everything that Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not.”
“He is qualified to step into this job and lead on day one, and he is a progressive who likes to get things done,” she said.
In his remarks, Kaine made a full-throated call for immigration reform, saying that immigrants make the country stronger, not weaker.
“Anybody who loves America this much deserves to be here,” he said, repeating the remark in both English and Spanish.
Kaine also enthusiastically embraced the traditional VP role as an attack dog, going after Trump, the GOP nominee.
“Donald Trump trash talks folks with disabilities, trash talks Mexican-Americans and Latinos, whether they’re new immigrants or governors or federal judges, trash talks women, trash talks our allies,” he said.
Kaine also said “from Atlantic City to his so-called university, (Trump) leaves a trail of broken promises and wrecked lives wherever he goes.”
Open Louisiana U.S. Senate primary draws 24 candidates
Race will include two sitting members of Congress and white racist David Duke
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
NEW ORLEANS (CFP) — A gaggle of 24 candidates have qualified for the primary for an open U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana, which could play a pivotal role in the battle for Senate control.
The list of those who qualified by the July 22 deadline included three current or former members of Congress, two state officeholders and white supremacist David Duke, who filed to run as a Republican.
In Louisiana, all candidates, regardless of party, run in a Nov. 8 primary, with the top two vote-getters advancing to a December runoff if no one clears 50 percent.
The Louisiana race, then, could become the last and deciding contest for control of the Senate.
In all, nine Republicans filed, along with seven Democrats, two Libertarians and six without a party affiliation.
With so many candidates in the race, the outcome is uncertain. But Democrats hoping to overcome the Pelican State’s Republican tendencies may benefit by having fewer big name candidates in the race to divide their vote.
On the Democratic side, Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and Caroline Fayard, a New Orleans lawyer, head the field.
Campbell made a losing bid for governor in 2007, while Fayard was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate in a special election for lieutenant governor in 2010.
The Republican side of the ballot is much more crowded. Two sitting U.S. House members–Charles Boustany of Layfayette and John Fleming of Minden–gave up their seats to pursue the open Senate seat.
Joining them are State Treasurer John Kennedy, a former Democrat who lost Senate races in 2004 and 2008; Joseph Cao, a Vietnamese-American who represented the New Orleans area in Congress from 2009 to 2011; and Rob Maness, who made a spirited but unsuccessful Tea Party-backed bid for the Senate in 2014.
In an announcement video on his website, Duke, making his third try for the Senate, said he was running to represent “European Americans.” He also claimed credit for introducing the phrase “America First” into national politics, which has become a mainstay of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
“I’m overjoyed to see Donald Trump, and most Americans, embrace most of the issues that I’ve championed for years,” he said.
The Louisiana seat opened up after U.S. Senator David Vitter retired to make an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2015.
Poll: Rubio opens up big lead in Florida U.S. Senate race
Incumbent Republican leads two possible Democratic challengers by double digits
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
GAINESVILLE, Florida (CFP) — Less than a month after parachuting into Florida’s U.S. Senate race, Republican incumbent Marco Rubio has opened up a commanding lead over both of his likely Democratic opponents, according to a new poll.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio
A Quinniapiac University poll found that Rubio leads Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy by 13 points, 50 percent to 37 percent. He held nearly the same lead over Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, 50 percent to 38 percent. The poll of 1,015 Florida voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
The poll found that Rubio’s only remaining major Republican challenger, businessman Carlos Beruff, was tied with Grayson and trailed Murphy by 6 points, illustrating that at this point, Rubio is a far stronger general election candidate.
The poll did not test how Rubio and Beruff stand with GOP voters ahead of the Aug. 30 primary.
For months, Rubio insisted that he would retire from the Senate after his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination proved unsuccessful, But, under pressure from party leaders concerned about losing the seat to a Democrat, Rubio changed course and filed to run for re-election.
In the wake of that decision, three Republicans who had been fighting for the Senate seat — U.S. Reps. Ron DeSantis and David Jolly and Lieutenant Governor Carlos López-Cantera — ended their campaigns, leaving Beruff as Rubio’s only hurdle to the Republican nomination.
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