with Pete Sampras as I guess the other half-hour ....

we'll see if he shows up.

You're just talking to hear yourself talk? Go back on vacation. You obviously have nothing to contribute here.

Lori

As a VA resident I am frankly baffled by the apparent enthusiasm for Kaine as VP. He has been a fairly ineffective governor in a state with a very weak governorship in the first place. Part of the problem is that the GOP controls all of the other statewide offices and the legislature. And the governors here are not allowed to run for re-election. Mark Warner got a lot more done than Kaine has been able to do. He has been fairly low-key and low-profile. Perhaps that fits with Obama being the star of the show, but it seems like the second banana should at least bring SOMETHING to the table. Kaine seems like a nice guy who is big on social justice and I think he speaks fluent Spanish from his time doing missionary work in central America. But there's no foreign policy chops. No real economic issues where he has been a leader. Just because he is the governor here doesn't really mean all that much as far as I can tell with helping Obama win VA. If NoVA turns out Obama should be in pretty good shape anyway since the bulk of the state's population is here.

the loss of each and every of the other top three from the posts they currently hold, from your description, would be a greater party loss.

I'm not seeing much enthusiasm. But then it is JUST the VP slot, etc.

that the poster yesterday was correct in positing that the four names floated by the Washington Post (Kaine, Sebelius, Biden, Bayh) were misinformation and that the actual VP pick will be someone else.

Gosh, I don't know; I just don't see Kaine bringing much to the table as a VP choice. Would a symbolic nod to Virginia do much that voter turnout drives couldn't? I don't know. Isn't Kaine a DLC darling? I would hate to see Obama teaming up with a DLC person, frankly. The Democratic Party really and truly needs less DLC and more Democratic Party in its composition. Some weak tea prospect like Kaine would hurt more than it would help.

If Kaine leaves the VA governorship, we get stuck with the current Lt. Gov, Bill Bolling, a Republican who will then remake the Cabinet in his own weird image and remove the one obstacle to the Rep-run General Assembly to do all manner of crazy crap to our state. Worse than that prospect, letting Bolling serve out the rest of Kaine's term means that he will be able to run as an incumbent, something no VA Governor has been able to do in over 150 years. Please don't do that to us - we might never recover.

I don't think he's a terrible choice (the top of ticket is what counts and Obama is by far the best choice in this race).

But WOW, I mean WOW... there are a lot of better choices for a lot of different reasons.

Webb being my favorite, but unfortunately Webb is taking my calls ; )

It gets even scarier -if this were possible- with Mr. Neo-con Israel Lobby "Iraq war was wonderful. Now let's bomb Iran" Joseph Lieberman being positioned as a "good veep" for McCain!

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=865078

Nobody knows Kaine. People know Hagel. He's a Vietnam vet and he has been highly critcal of the occupation of Iraq. So he'd appeal to folks who want mailtary experience, and international experience, and he'd probably appeal to the blue-collar working class that supported Clinton.m And Obama just traveled with him to the Iraq.

I'm voting for President Not McSame and Vice-President Not McSame, whoever they may be. Once againsa presidential election comes down to deciding between a shitty choice and a shittier choice. (And, sorry, Hilladroids, she's also shitty.)

hit the send button by mistake..sorry..

I'm with the other Virginia residents here in being puzzled at the apparent enthusiasm for Kaine as the VP choice. I mean, I like him well enough, he's a decent guy, but when it comes to national politics, he's a lightweight, and I'm not sure I see what Obama gains by putting him on the ticket. (And as mharvey816 says, removing him from the governorship could have undesirable consequences for Virginia, especially considering that the 2009 statewide election will determine who gets to draw the redistricting lines after the 2010 census. Bolling has said he doesn't intend to run for governor, he'd rather run for re-election as lt. governor, but that could change if he suddenly found himself sitting in that chair.)

And Ramus1, Kaine is not anti-choice. As a Catholic, he is personally opposed to abortion, but he supports legal access to it for those who take a different view, and in any event, as governor, his position has been that he is there to enforce the laws of the state, not impose his personal agenda.

and that makes me fear that the talk he is the top choice is accurate.

I don't mean to be picky, but not only is he boring, he is incredibly odd-looking, with truly embarrassing hair. It's not that he's ugly, which wouldn't bother me. He's just strange. He could at least fix his hair, the weirdest do I have seen since Traficant (though nothing could really compare to that).

This anti-NIH (taxpayer funded)embryonic stem cell research view of his really bothers me. We need to get off the anti-science meme. I'm really concerned with where this could lead in an Obama administration, with its outreach to fundamentalists.

Oh well, thank God it's not Hillary (snark). It would be so bad to have a well-informed, brilliant, charismatic, courageous and highly disciplined VP, wouldn't it?

"Who cares?

I'm voting for President Not McSame and Vice-President Not McSame, whoever they may be. Once againsa presidential election comes down to deciding between a shitty choice and a shittier choice. (And, sorry, Hilladroids, she's also shitty.)"

-- Bukk63

Maybe if you take your face off the shitty sands you will realize that it is not about you.