Clinton And Kaine Debut Ticket In Florida

Clinton And Kaine Make Debut As A Presidential Ticket. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton debuted her running mate Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) at a rally in Miami, FL, on July 23, giving “the first glimpse of the team that will take on Donald J. Trump in the general election”:

The vetting is over — the hard choice has been made. And on Saturday, Hillary Clinton and Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia made their debut as a presidential ticket, offering Democrats the first glimpse of the team that will take on Donald J. Trump in the general election.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kaine appeared at a 1 p.m. rally at Florida International University in Miami, showing up nearly an hour late. The joint appearance was meant to give the campaign a burst of energy as Democrats head to their national convention on Monday, starting the formal process of nominating Mrs. Clinton.

“Tim Kaine is everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not,” Mrs. Clinton said in introducing her running mate at the rally. “He is qualified to step into this job and lead on day one.”

The rally came a day after Mrs. Clinton announced her selection in a text message to supporters Friday night, saying that she was “thrilled to tell you this first: I’ve chosen Sen. Tim Kaine as my running mate.”

Mr. Kaine peppered his speech with Spanish, telling the crowd, “Somos Americanos todos” — “We are all Americans” — an implied dig at Mr. Trump and his attacks on immigrants. [The New York Times, 7/23/16]

Media Figures Note The “Sharp Contrast” Between Clinton’s VP Announcement And Trump’s Introduction To His Running Mate

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell: Clinton VP Announcement Was “A Sharp Contrast To The Unusual Rollout Of Mike Pence.” Andrea Mitchell noted the “sharp contrast” between the vice presidential introductions given by Trump and Clinton noting Clinton spoke only for 17 minutes, “not about herself but introducing Tim Kaine,” as opposed to Trump who spoke for “29 minutes about himself and all of his victories and his antagonism with his past rivals.” From the July 23 edition of MSNBC Live:

ANDREA MITCHELL: But Tim Kaine just substantively gave a great rousing speech. We should also note the contrast: Hillary Clinton spoke for about 17 minutes, speaking not about herself but introducing Tim Kaine. She spoke to his biography, then he got up and he spoke -- she sat on that stool and watched every minute of it. We saw her reactions. It was a very, deliberate I suspect, but a sharp contrast to the unusual roll out of Mike Pence only a week ago Saturday where you saw Donald Trump come up and speak for 28 or 29 minutes about himself and all of his victories and his antagonism with his past rivals and then walked off after a couple of minutes and left his new running mate standing by himself. So there was no lacking of connection of hugs and joint celebration in this ticket  today. [MSNBC, MSNBC Live, 7/23/16]

CNN’s Dana Bash: “Donald Trump Spoke For A Long Time About Himself Before He Even Got To Mike Pence And Hillary Clinton Did The Opposite.” CNN’s chief political correspondent Dana Bash pointed out the contrast between the two vice presidential rollouts noting that Clinton “did the opposite” of Trump by talking about her running mate rather than herself. Dash also noted that Kaine and Clinton shared the stage together, something Trump and Pence didn’t do. From the July 23 edition of CNN Newsroom:

DANA BASH: And I just want to continue focusing, kind of on the performance and the stagecraft of this. The other thing, and again, we were right here in these seats doing the same kind of analysis of the Republican rollout last week, where -- forget about the fact that Donald Trump spoke for a long time about himself before he even got to Mike Pence and Hillary Clinton did the opposite. Just the optics of having Tim Kaine sitting there with Hillary Clinton behind him and vice versa, you saw them both in the shot. You got a sense of the team visually which cannot be underestimated when you're trying to decide whether or not this is somebody and this is a team you feel comfortable with in your house and your living room for four years. [CNN, CNN Newsroom, 7/23/16]

NBC’s Katy Tur: The Two VP Rollouts Were “Strikingly Different,” Clinton Elevated Kaine While Trump Spoke “Mostly About Himself.” Correspondent Katy Tur highlighted the “strikingly different” VP rollouts, noting that Clinton spoke for 20 minutes “elevating Tim Kaine, talking about his virtues,” while Trump spoke for “29 minutes mostly about himself.” Tur added, “the optics of this, it could not be more striking.” From the July 23 edition of MSNBC Live:

KATY TUR: But so far I want to just mention how strikingly different these two campaigns are, in terms of the way their VPs were rolled out. Hillary Clinton spoke for about 20 minutes elevating Tim Kaine, talking about his virtues, why she chose him, why she thinks he'll be a good vice president. And then Tim Kaine spoke for 40 minutes giving his vision of leadership to this country. Selling himself and going on the attack against Donald Trump saying that the Hillary Clinton campaign is one that will be for you instead of Donald Trump's campaign which is basically a campaign for Donald Trump himself. Donald Trump, meanwhile, when he rolled out Governor Pence about a week ago, did so in a slightly hasty way having delayed it because of the attack in Paris. And he did it by going on stage and speaking for 29 minutes mostly about himself. At one point even saying the words “back to Governor Pence, back to Mike Pence.” Mike Pence then took the stage and spoke for 12 minutes. The optics of this, it could not be more striking. Whether you like Donald Trump or you hate Hillary Clinton, or vice versa, you have to admit the optics are not so great. Hillary Clinton came out with a rehearsed, with a clearly honed-in message for her vice presidential pick. Donald Trump did not do the same. But does the American public really care about rehearsed politics? That might not be the case. That's certainly what Donald Trump has been doing this entire campaign season. 13 months now. Turning everything on its head. And he might argue that he doesn't really need to do that. [MSNBC, MSNBC Live, 7/23/16]

NBC’s Mark Murray: “Optics Of This VP Rollout Are Very Diff[erent] From Pence Rollout.”

Optics of this VP rollout are very diff from Pence rollout:

-- Kaine is sitting behind Clinton in shot

-- taking place in battleground state

— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) July 23, 2016

[Twitter.com, 7/23/16]

Fox News’ Howard Kurtz: “Hillary’s Rollout Speech For Tim Kaine Is Mostly About … Tim Kaine.”

Hillary's rollout speech for Tim Kaine is mostly about...Tim Kaine.

— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) July 23, 2016

[Twitter.com, 7/23/16]

 

ABC’s Rick Klein: “Clinton Talking A Tad Bit More About Tim Kaine’s Resume Than Trump Did About Pence’s”

Clinton talking a tad bit more about Tim Kaine's resume than Trump did about Pence's

— Rick Klein (@rickklein) July 23, 2016

[Twitter.com, 7/23/16]

NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald: “Clinton Seems More Familiar With Kaine’s Bio That Trump Was Of Pence’s.”

Clinton seems more familiar with Kaine's bio that Trump was of Pence's.

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) July 23, 2016

[Twitter.com, 7/23/16]

Wash. Post’s Philip Rucker: “Huh … Clinton Didn’t Go On At Length In This VP Intro About How Badly She Whipped Bernie And O’Malley’s Butts In The Primary.”

Huh… Clinton didn't go on at length in this VP intro about how badly she whipped Bernie and O'Malley's butts in the primary.

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) July 23, 2016

[Twitter.com, 7/23/16]

NY Times’ Nick Confessore: An “Interesting Contrast” Between Clinton And Trump’s VP Announcements: Clinton’s Introduction Was “All About Tim Kaine,” While “Trump’s Was 80 Percent About Trump.”

[The New York Times, 7/23/16]

Huffington Post’s Sam Stein: “The Fact That Clinton Stayed On Stage To Hear Kaine Speak Made It More Harmonious Than Trump And Pence.”

The fact that Clinton stayed on stage to hear Kaine speak made it more harmonious than Trump and Pence

— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) July 23, 2016

[Twitter.com, 7/23/16]