Clinton and Kaine debut as Democratic ticket in Florida

“Sen. Tim Kaine is everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not”, Clinton said.

Trump, in a text to his own supporters, said Obama, Hillary and Kaine were “the ultimate insiders” and implored voters to not “let Obama have a 3rd term”.

Aides say that against any other Republican, Clinton might have focused more on ideology in her campaign pitches and in her vice presidential choice, reprising familiar left vs. right, red vs. blue political arguments that have only hardened in the past decade.

Clinton and Kaine are being greeted by cheers from a boisterous Miami crowd in the crucial battleground state of Florida.

“En este país somos Americanos todos”, he said to cheers from the audience.

There was his childhood as the son of a Kansas ironworker and education at a Jesuit boys schools.

Kaine is personally opposed to abortion as a Catholic, but when it comes to legislating and governing, he has a strong pro-abortion-rights track record in Virginia, with Planned Parenthood and NARAL giving him flawless scores as a senator. Kaine isn’t a gormless moderate in the Evan Bayh model, but he’s certainly not the first choice of progressive activists who had hoped that Bernie Sanders’ vigorous challenge to Hillary in the primaries would have impelled her to pick a more left-wing running mate.

“He’s not only wrong”.

“We work together, that is what has traditionally set us apart from places that have turned to single leaders, despots, dictators, authoritarians who have promised people, ‘I can fix it alone, ‘ ” she added.

While Republicans are split over support for Trump, their collective hatred of Clinton proved a potent unifier this week in Cleveland, where delegates clamored to demand her imprisonment, painting her as above the law.

Earlier this month, Kaine campaigned with Clinton in Virginia, previewing what the Democratic ticket would look like.

Speaking behind a lectern that included the newly minted blue sign with the words “Clinton Kaine”, Clinton called Kaine a “shining example of faith in action” and “everything Donald Trump and [vice presidential nominee] Mike Pence are not”.

Kaine switched to Spanish a few times – he is fluent in that language – and praised the US military as he said service members should have a “commander-in-chief with the experience and temperament to lead”.

“Trying to count the ways I hate @timkaine”, Arizona Republican Sen. “The staggering human displacement, killing and destruction are an affront to the civilized world”, Kaine wrote at the time, together with three other senators. “Drawing a blank. Congrats to a good man and a good friend”, he tweeted.

That Friday, Clinton met with a series of vice presidential candidates in Washington, including HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Warren, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. Kaine is well-liked, has executive experience, and has become a leading foreign policy voice in the Senate.

“Nobody should ever say they’re ready for the responsibility because it is so, so huge”, Kaine told NBC in late June when asked if he’d be prepared to serve as president.

The offer finally came in a 7:32 p.m. EDT phone call from Clinton, who was in a holding room after wrapping up a rally at the Florida state fairgrounds in Tampa.

Both candidates, however, have been quick to criticize their opponent’s choice of running mates. But he invoked the name of his running mate repeatedly.

“If you bring in someone with great credentials, that’s fine, but inclusivity of the progressive agenda can be a more important message”, Bullard said. She will formally introduce him to supporters during a rally at Florida International University in Miami on Saturday, just days before the Democratic National Convention opens in Philadelphia. In 2013, he made history by delivering a speech entirely in Spanish on the Senate floor about overhauling the immigration bill. He also discussed his childhood, including the fact that his father was a union-organized iron worker. “It’s the best way to unite the Democratic Party, and stop Republicans from winning over swing voters on bread-and-butter issues”.

Clinton also remained on stage throughout Kaine’s speech.