How Hillary Clinton decided on Tim Kaine as her VP

Ken Thomas, The Associated Press, Published Saturday, July 23, 2016 12:11PM EDT, http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/ho...-as-her-vp-1.2999438

In this Feb. 4, 2016, file photo, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., gives a 'thumbs-up' as he takes his seat at the head table for the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. (AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

TAMPA, Fla. -- Hillary Clinton's search for a vice-president started with a commanding victory in the New York primary and a special delivery in a plastic Duane Reed bag. Three months later, it ended with a phone call to a shipyard office, where Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine was waiting.

From the start, Kaine was a front-runner to join Clinton on the Democratic ticket. A senator, former Virginia governor and mayor of Richmond, he hails from a top battleground state and, as a fluent Spanish speaker, could help in another: Florida. Victories in both would likely put the White House out of the reach of Donald Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.

But Clinton grew personally comfortable with the likable and even-keeled Kaine as they campaigned together in recent weeks and discussed the vice presidency. Clinton ultimately concluded that she had "unshakeable confidence in Kaine's readiness to do the job," according to a Clinton aide familiar with her thinking. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private deliberations over her selection.

For a presidential candidate with the unique experience of helping conduct her husband's 1992 search for a vice-president -- it ended with the choice of Al Gore -- along with eight years at the White House and another four years as President Barack Obama's secretary of state, that kind of confidence mattered.

It wasn't an easy decision. Clinton was also drawn to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor who remained in the running until the end. A person close to the campaign, also speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations, said Clinton had a hard time not choosing her longtime family friend and political loyalist.

Campaign chair John Podesta started the process after Clinton's convincing victory over Democratic rival Bernie Sanders in April's New York primary, dropping off binders of information with Clinton at her home in Chappaqua, New York. The information on potential running mates was delivered in a bag from Duane Reed, a New York drug store.

As Clinton dealt with an up-and-down series of primary contests against Sanders, her team delved deeply into several potential running mates, scouring public information and ultimately asking a select few to provide detailed financial and personal information, and consent to interviews.

Clinton's team maintained a tight control over the information. Her screeners included Washington attorney James Hamilton, former State Department chief of staff Cheryl Mills and Podesta, along with a group of attorneys and top aides.

As the process entered July, Clinton scheduled a joint campaign event with Kaine in Annandale, Virginia, where he showed off his bilingual abilities, telling the audience, "Estamos listos para Hillary!" -- or "We're ready for Hillary."

Clinton and Kaine met that evening at her Washington home for 90 minutes, and she invited Kaine and his wife, Virginia Education Secretary Anne Holton, to her home in Chappaqua two days later. This time, lunch was served and the Kaines joined Bill Clinton and the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea, and son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky.

Kaine's name remained at the top of the speculation for vice-president, but he kept his head down, telling reporters that he enjoyed being senator. Just hours before his selection, he professed that he didn't know where things stood.

While Clinton also considered other potential running mates, including Labor Secretary Tom Perez, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, officials said the choice came down to Kaine and Vilsack.

Clinton campaigned for Vilsack in his 1998 comeback victory as Iowa governor, and he later stood by her through her difficult 2008 presidential campaign. They served together in Obama's Cabinet.

The person familiar with the search process likened Vilsack to the "heart" candidate, given his friendship with Clinton, but said that Kaine's experience as a winner in a pivotal swing state along with his Senate experience in foreign affairs helped put him over the top.

While Kaine had supported Obama, not Clinton, in the 2008 presidential primaries, the presumptive Democratic nominee noted in a recent interview that Kaine had never lost an election during a lengthy political career that began with a seat on the Richmond city council during Bill Clinton's first term in the White House.

The Clinton aide said she ultimately concluded that Kaine met her top consideration -- the ability to step in as president if necessary -- and she had reached a comfort level with the low-key lawmaker that made her believe he could be a "true partner in governing."

Podesta, who served as chief of staff to Bill Clinton and later advised Obama, offered the former secretary of state this advice: "It needs to be someone who whenever they walk into the room, you are glad to see them and you want to have them as part of any conversation."

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. Kaine was attending a fundraiser in Newport, Rhode Island, for the state's Democratic senator, Jack Reed. Taking the call in a shipyard office, he quickly accepted.

Clinton then called Obama at the White House about 20 minutes later to inform him of her decision. Shortly after 8 p.m., the campaign blasted out a text message and accompanying announcement on Twitter that she had made her choice.

"I'm thrilled to announce my running mate, @timkaine, a man who's devoted his life to fighting for others," Clinton said on Twitter.

Replied Kaine: "Just got off the phone with Hillary. I'm honoured to be her running mate. Can't wait to hit the trail tomorrow in Miami!"

Associated Press writers Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, and Michelle R. Smith in Newport, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

Another circus for CNN.

How about that Wasserman-Shultz fiasco?  Wasn't Trump and Bernie correct in accusing the system of being rigged?  Now what if Sanders supporters stay away in droves, which is a real possibility!

I don't know how Sanders could stand in front of his people and not tell them all the fighting and them did was for nothing, go Vote [crooked] Hillary!!

Regarding the issues of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, one should note the following ....

1. While there is indeed the appearance of discussions on this matter a long time ago, it absolutely has no effect on how individuals voted at the individual Democratic primary elections.

2. It is a separate and distinct issue that must be addressed by the Democratic party officials.

Current Democratic Party's process is to officially declare the presidential and vice presidential candidates at the four-day convention.

There is an invisible wall built to keep Trump out of Canada....we welcome the lady anytime.

Excellent first night of the Democratic National Convention.

Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Corey Booker, etc., carefully outlined the issues for electing the Democrats under the leadership of Hillary Clinton.

Bernie Sanders outlined clearly the issues and differences between the Democrats and Republicans and hence why Hillary Clinton should be elected President of the US_of_A.

Emotional Sanders urges Democrats to unite behind Clinton to defeat Trump

Senator Bernie Sander addresses his electoral delegates gathered at the Convention Center during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 25, 2016.
(BRYAN WOOLSTON/REUTERS)

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders capped a day of strong emotions and controversy with a rousing plea to the Democratic Party to unite behind his former rival Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald Trump for the presidency of the United States.

"This is election is about the kind of future we want to create for our children and our grandchildren," he argued. "Based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States."

"I'm going to do everything I can to make that happen."

Earlier, at a street rally his endorsement of Ms. Clinton was roundly booed. His supporters said they were angry as a result of the bitter nomination campaign and because of a last-minute controversy over leaked e-mails from party leaders that suggested they favoured his rival throughout the primaries.

As the convention began Monday afternoon, his supporters cheered every mention of his name and again booed Ms. Clinton. But he and his aides worked throughout the day with Ms. Clinton's team and party leaders to present a more united front against Republican nominee Donald Trump.

"This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and offers real solutions, not bombast. fear-mongering and divisiveness.

Mr. Sanders’s evening call for party unity behind Clinton came after party leaders tried to calm the waters by issuing this statement: “On behalf of everyone at the DNC, we want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator [Bernie] Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over e-mail.”

Mr. Sanders and his campaign team also tried to persuade his delegates not to disrupt the proceedings and worked with Ms. Clinton's officials to try to present a more united front.

“Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays,” Mr. Sanders said in an e-mail to the delegates, calling it a “personal courtesy” to him. “That’s what Mr. Trump wants.”

Earlier in the day, Mr. Sanders told his supporters at a street rally: "We have got to defeat Donald Trump and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine."

The remarks prompted jeers and chants of “we want Bernie.”

But he added: “This is a real world we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue.”

“Make no mistake. We have made history,” Mr. Sanders told the crowd, stressing that their progress would be lost if Ms. Clinton doesn’t win.

Yet many diehard backers of Mr. Sanders weren’t ready to coalesce around Ms. Clinton’s presidential bid despite his pleas.

Their frustration was on display a day after Democratic Party Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down at the end of the convention. Mr. Sanders’s loyalists heckled her at a Florida delegation breakfast and many expressed dismay that Ms. Clinton had given the Florida congresswoman the position of honorary chair of the campaign’s “50-state program.”

“I’m really annoyed,” Michigan delegate Bruce Fealk said. “I want to support Bernie, but I also want to voice my displeasure with the Democratic Party.”

From the podium, however, some of Mr. Sanders’s allies noted their progress in influencing the party’s platform and moving to reduce the influence of superdelegates, party leaders and elected officials who help decide the nomination.

“I stand with my Democratic family in making sure we win this fall,” said Maine lawmaker Diane Russell, a Sanders supporter. “We are all in this together and we will all have a voice in the Clinton administration.”

Aides to Ms. Clinton and Mr. Sanders met before the start of the convention to find ways to prevent an open display of dissent, prompting the Vermont senator to send text and e-mail messages requesting that they refrain from protests on the floor.

That was enough for Deborah Adams, of Cheraw, S.C., who served as a whip for the 14 Sanders delegates from her state’s delegation.

“I think every delegate should follow Senator Sanders’s request,” Ms. Adams said. “We’ve worked hard as a movement. It gives us a black eye if we don’t control our emotions.”

Later, comedian-turned-Senator Al Franken, a Clinton supporter, and actress Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, made a joint appearance to promote party unity.

“I am proud to be part of Bernie’s movement,” Ms. Silverman said as the crowd roared. “And a vital part of that movement is making absolutely sure Hillary Clinton is our next president of the United States.”

“To the 'Bernie or Bust' people, you’re being ridiculous,” Ms. Silverman added.

For months, Mr. Sanders, 74, mounted an unexpectedly tough challenge to Ms. Clinton, 68, a former secretary of state, who this week will become the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party.

Mr. Sanders complained bitterly during the primary process that the party leadership was working against him. Some of his backers are reluctant to get behind Ms. Clinton, seeing her as a member of the Washington political elite who pays only lip service to realizing their goals of reining in Wall Street and eradicating income inequality.

The scenes of booing at the convention in Philadelphia were a setback to Democratic officials’ attempts to present the gathering as a smoothly run show of party unity in contrast to the volatile campaign of Republican nominee Mr. Trump.

While Mr. Sanders has endorsed Ms. Clinton, she faces the task of attracting his backers as she battles Mr. Trump. The New York businessman pulled ahead in at least one opinion poll on Monday, after lagging Ms. Clinton in most national surveys for months. A CNN/ORC opinion poll gave Mr. Trump a lead over Ms. Clinton, 48 per cent to her 45 per cent in a two-way presidential matchup.

Mr. Trump was formally nominated for president at a chaotic Republican convention in Cleveland last week.

Ms. Wasserman Schultz was the focus of anger from liberal Democrats over some 19,000 DNC e-mails that were leaked by the WikiLeaks website that showed the party establishment working to undermine Mr. Sanders.

Her resignation is effective at the end of the convention, but she told Florida’s Sun Sentinel newspaper that she would not speak as planned at the opening of the event.

“I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention,” Ms. Wasserman Schultz said. The meeting “needs to be all about making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president,” she said.

On Monday morning, Ms. Wasserman Schultz struggled to be heard above boos as she spoke to the delegation from her home state. Some protesters held up signs that read “Bernie” and “E-MAILS,” and shouted “shame” as she spoke.

The cache of leaked e-mails disclosed that DNC officials explored ways to undercut Mr. Sanders’s insurgent presidential campaign, including raising questions about whether Mr. Sanders, who is Jewish, was an atheist.

Sanders supporters were already dismayed last week when Ms. Clinton passed over liberal favourites such as Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to select the more moderate Mr. Kaine as her running mate.

“They throw ‘party unity’ around as if we’re supposed to jump for joy when they mention her name,” said Manuel Zapata, a Sanders delegate from California, referring to Ms. Clinton. “What we’ve been saying for months is obviously true: They had the finger on the scale of the campaign,” he said.

The Clinton camp questioned whether Russians may have had a hand in the hack attack on the party’s e-mails in an effort to help Mr. Trump, who has exchanged words of praise with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The FBI said on Monday it would investigate the nature and scope of the hack.

Mr. Trump gloated at the Democrats’ opening-day disorder.

“Wow, the Republican Convention went so smoothly compared to the Dems total mess,” he wrote on Twitter.

Democratic convention speakers attacked Mr. Trump with gusto and urged the party to rally behind Ms. Clinton.

Michelle Obama said the former secretary of state, senator and first lady herself is the “one person who I truly believe is qualified to be president of the United States,” the kind of president she wants for her own daughters.

Ms. Obama pleaded with Sanders's delegates to rally to defeat Trump. She cited Ms. Clinton’s reaction to her 2008 Democratic primary loss to Barack Obama when Ms. Clinton “didn’t get angry or disillusioned” and “did not pack up and go home.”

The first lady attacked Mr. Trump’s slogan to “make America great again.”

“Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great, that somehow we need to make it great again," she told delegates. "Because this right now is the greatest country on earth.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a stalwart of the liberal branch of the part, used her speech Monday evening to make clear her view that Americans won’t fall for Mr. Trump’s plan to fan what she calls “the flames of fear and hatred.”

The Massachusetts Democrat said in excerpts of the speech released in advance that the Republican presidential nominee is peddling an old story of “divide and conquer.”

Senator Warren said Trump thinks he can win votes “by turning neighbour against neighbour” and by persuading voters that the source of their problems is “people who don’t look like you, or don’t talk like or don’t worship like you.”

With reports from Staff, Associated Press, Reuters and The New York Times.

I know what I know - Paul Simon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w3CBdLfGqw

ba$eman posted:

How about that Wasserman-Shultz fiasco?  Wasn't Trump and Bernie correct in accusing the system of being rigged?  Now what if Sanders supporters stay away in droves, which is a real possibility!

I don't know how Sanders could stand in front of his people and not tell them all the fighting and them did was for nothing, go Vote [crooked] Hillary!!

What did ms wasserman do you fool? Obviously nothing that happened tipped the scale for Hillary and Ms Wassermann cannot be accused of that. Obviously, some foolish people in the DNC who had an aversion of Bernie demanding of the DNC to facilitate him when he did nothing in his life to build the institution. Obviously Wassermann did. What she knew of the mental frame of mind of those in the DNC who resented burnie ( but no one took any effort to disadvantage him even if they pedicure him) may represent poor leadership but cut the crap about anything beyond that.

Bill Clinton outlines Hillary's journey in keynote speech at Democratic convention

It took Bill Clinton three times for Hillary Clinton to accept his proposal, it only took Democrats two

Thomson Reuters Posted: Jul 27, 2016 12:28 AM ET, Last Updated: Jul 27, 2016 1:26 AM ET, http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/d...ton-speech-1.3696612

Bill Clinton's Democratic National Convention speech

Former president Bill Clinton portrayed his wife Hillary Clinton on Tuesday as a dynamic force for change and a longtime fighter for social justice as he made a case for her historic 2016 bid for the White House.

The ex-president told the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia that Hillary Clinton was "a natural leader" with a built-in sense of responsibility.

• Hillary Clinton wins historic nomination, says glass ceiling cracked
• Michelle Obama gives impassioned endorsement of Hillary Clinton

"Hillary is uniquely qualified to seize the opportunities and reduce the risks we face, and she is still the best darn change-maker I have ever known," he said.

 

'[Hillary] is still the best darn change maker I have ever known'

Earlier in the day, Hillary Clinton secured the Democratic Party's nomination for the Nov. 8 election, coming back from a stinging 2008 defeat in her first White House run and surviving a bitter primary fight to become the first woman to head the ticket of a major party in U.S. history.

Bill Clinton told the convention in a keynote speech that Hillary Clinton had been an activist for social justice since the couple's early days as law students together. He gave a detailed account — hair and wardrobe included — of how the two met in 1971.

He told how she gave legal aid services to poor people and went undercover to expose a segregationist school in Alabama in the 1970s.

Bill Clinton also told the convention that he had to propose three times before she said yes, and on his third attempt he told her why she shouldn't marry him.

Perhaps their worst moments — the Monica Lewinsky scandal, impeachment and legal battles that followed — were conspicuously omitted.

Instead, Bill Clinton cast himself as a passenger in his wife's life, reshaping the story of much of their decades in politics.

The goal was to make Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most famous female politician in the world, yet a public figure her aides claim remains unknown, relatable to voters.

He cast her as a liberal heroine of her own story, who fought for education reform, health care, civil rights, the disabled, 9/11 first responders and economically depressed rural areas.

Bill Clinton also told the crowd that President Barack Obama didn't have an easy time convincing his former rival to become secretary of state. Bill Clinton isn't the only person who had to ask her something more than once.

 Barack Obama had to keep asking Hillary Clinton to join his cabinet

Bill Clinton also addressed those who have criticized Hillary Clinton for being around too long with another list of causes and the time she's spent "making people's lives better."

 '[Hillary] has been worth every year she's put in making people's lives better'

After a tough battle with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders during the state-by-state nominating contests, Hillary Clinton is now the party's standard-bearer against Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Bill Clinton said Republicans led by Trump had made Hillary Clinton out to be "a cartoon" but the real thing was nothing like their portrayal of her.

"They're running against a cartoon. Cartoons are two-dimensional, they're easy to absorb. Life in the real world is complicated and real change is hard, and a lot of people even think it's boring," he said.

Then speaking directly to the crowd, he said to cheers and applause: "Good for you because earlier today you nominated the real one."

 'Hillary will make us stronger together'

President from 1993 to 2001, Bill Clinton, 69, left office with high approval ratings and is known as one of the most powerful political orators in the country.

Should she become president, her husband will step into a singular role in American history: first gentleman.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

The potential new title is perhaps the strangest twist in a political career known for its second acts. After health scares and political missteps, the Comeback Kid, as he was known in his first presidential race, could come back to Washington one last time.

In 2012, he acted as a powerful validator for Obama, electrifying the room as the party's "explainer-in-chief."

But, said Bill Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta, "This is different."

"This is more personal," said Podesta, who recalled riding to the convention hall with Bill Clinton as he touched up his 2004 convention address. "This is more about her."

But no one doubts that Bill Clinton still wants to be at the centre of the action. While aides have said he will not get a cabinet post or a seat in the Situation Room should his wife win, Hillary Clinton has made clear that her closest adviser will remain involved with her administration, saying he'd likely have a role in managing the nation's economy.

They remain a "two for one" package, as Bill Clinton famously said during his first presidential race. But on Tuesday night, he hinted, just barely, that Clinton perhaps is finally getting her part of the deal.

"I married my best friend," he said. "And I really hoped that she choosing me and rejecting my own advice to pursue her own career was a decision she'd never regret."

Hillary Clinton first woman to win presidential nomination of a major American party

Democratic Convention: Day two in words and photos

 

Just a reminder: It’s not me doing the photographing at this week’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. It is, however, me doing the typing. It is also me losing count of the panellists on CNN. I ask you: Will no politician have the courage to speak to America’s crisis in runaway panel sizes? Back in my day, we needed no more than three pundits at any one time in order to know what to think and how to feel. Sad!

ba$eman posted:

How about that Wasserman-Shultz fiasco?  Wasn't Trump and Bernie correct in accusing the system of being rigged?  Now what if Sanders supporters stay away in droves, which is a real possibility!

I don't know how Sanders could stand in front of his people and not tell them all the fighting and them did was for nothing, go Vote [crooked] Hillary!!

Bernie folks mightn't like Hillary but the prospect of Herr Trump turning the USA into Putin's Russia terrifies.

Plus they are offended by the fact that Trump is a liar who buys his supplies from Mexico and China and forgot to tell people in PA that.

Demerara_Guy posted:

That said: Can you imagine what it must be like to run into Bill Clinton at the grocery store? You’re trying to hustle through the crowds and get home to make dinner. But he catches your eye – and even though you’re happy to see him (who wouldn’t be?) your immediate thought is: There is no way this conversation ends in under 40 minutes. He starts telling you an anecdote about a papaya he saw in the produce section. The Eggos in your cart begin to defrost and go limp.

Unless he has a business proposition for me that conversation will end real quick.  Voting for some one doesn't mean that I personally want to interact with them.

Joe Biden says Donald Trump’s concern for middle-class is a bunch of ‘malarkey’

He will be joined by Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine. Both Biden and Obama have a not-so-rosy history with Clinton, who ran against Obama during a bitter 2008 primary race.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

• Speakers will include Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine, Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama

• Two noted republicans, Michael Bloomberg and rnold Schwarzenegger are expected to speak.

• Schwarzenegger, who is currently hosting Celebrity Apprentice, won’t be endorsing Clinton. Instead, he’ll be appearing in a video about climate change.

Democrats opened their convention session Wednesday with the first order of business: nominating Tim Kaine for vice president. The Virginia senator's name was the only one offered and delegates nominated him by acclamation.

A billionaire businessman

Michael Bloomberg, who was a member of the Republican Party but is now an independent, said Clinton was the only smart choice for the American economy.

“I know Hillary Clinton's not flawless, no candidate is. But she's the right choice and the responsible choice in this election... Hillary Clinton understands that this is not reality television, this is reality!” Bloomberg said, donning a neutral purple tie.

Bloomberg slammed Trump as a fraud who inherited his wealth and didn’t understand business basics.

“The richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy,” he said, wearing his neutral purple tie.

“The bottom line is Trump is a risky, reckless, and radical choice, and we can't afford to make that choice.”

Early speakers:

Early speakers included Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who will retire in 2016. In his speech, which earned cheers of “Harry! Harry!” from the audience, Reid slammed the party that selected “con man” Trump as its candidate.

“I’ve never seen anything more craven than Mitch McConnell and what he has done to our democracy. His Republican Party decided that the answer to hard-working Americans’ dreams is to slander our African-American president, strike fear of Muslims, sow hatred of Latinos, insult Asians and, of course, wage war against women,” he said.

“In other words, the only thing Republicans like Mitch McConnell have accomplished is setting the stage for a hateful con man, Donald Trump.”

Many of the speakers during Wednesday’s program came from key swing states, such as Reid from Nevada, California’s Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, and NYC mayor Bill de Blasio.

Former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, who served two-terms as a Republican before becoming an independent, is also speaking. Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in a video about climate change, but is not expected to endorse Clinton.

During Clinton’s race against Bernie Sanders, Biden, who once had presidential ambitions of his own, kept a neutral stance. After Obama endorsed his former secretary of state in June, Biden gave Clinton a backhanded endorsement during a speech on the future of the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Anybody who thinks that whoever the next president is, and God willing, in my view it will be Secretary Clinton,” Biden said during the speech.

As WikiLeaks posted hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee containing evidence the party apparatus favoured Clinton over Sanders, “Bernie-or-Bust” supporters have been spoiling for a fight, booing during Clinton endorsements and staging protests.

U.S. officials say Russia was behind the hack, with Clinton’s campaign proposing that Putin was trying to interfere in the American election to benefit Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, Trump suggested that Russian hackers should try to find the 30,000 missing emails from her private server.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said.

With files from The Associated Press

Kaine hit it out the park with Trump (yes, that dangerous moron) with what Kaine said is his usual two words "believe me" and yet the idiot doesn't say how he plans on doing anything. He hasn't shown his tax returns yet cries "believe me" and the ignorant fools who follow him, cheer at his ignorance.

That fool should be held for treason with his dumbass cries to Russia and the email BS.

Excellent and inspiring presentation by President Barack Obama.

cain posted:

Kaine hit it out the park with Trump (yes, that dangerous moron) with what Kaine said is his usual two words "believe me" and yet the idiot doesn't say how he plans on doing anything. He hasn't shown his tax returns yet cries "believe me" and the ignorant fools who follow him, cheer at his ignorance.

That fool should be held for treason with his dumbass cries to Russia and the email BS.

This is a big boys game. Nit wits cannot play. Lacking the perceptions.

Barack Obama slams Trump, makes appeal for Hillary Clinton

By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer,  Updated 11:39 PM ET, Wed July 27, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/27/...c-convention-speech/

Joe Biden could be secret weapon for Hillary Clinton

Nicole Gaudiano, USA TODAY 10:26 p.m. EDT July 27, 2016, http://www.usatoday.com/story/...ry-clinton/87619296/

Vice President Joe Biden poses for a portrait at McGillin's Olde Ale House in Philadelphia, Pa. after meeting with Delaware's delegation to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday morning.(Photo: Kyle Grantham, The News Journal)

PHILADELPHIA — When Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic nomination at the party's national convention on Thursday, Vice President Biden could be forgiven for wondering, “Could it have been me?”

The tragedy of his son Beau’s death from cancer in May 2015 kept Biden out of the presidential race. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be sitting out the 2016 campaign. In fact, Clinton's campaign sees Biden as an asset in Rust Belt states, where his gift for connecting with working-class voters could make a difference in the battle against GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Mercer, Pa., is the type of town where Biden could be highly effective as a Clinton surrogate, Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, reflected while driving through the area recently.

"He speaks the language of these people that I’m seeing on the street,” Murray said. “There’s a guy here on the street corner with a T-shirt that says ‘Trust no one,’ smoking a cigarette. You get the sense that these are towns that have seen better times. These are Biden’s roots.”

Biden will speak at the convention, along with President Obama, on Wednesday night. He already has appeared at fundraisers for eight Senate candidates and plans to do more.

Polls show Biden could be a strong asset for Clinton. His favorability ratings average 51% — nearly as high as Clinton’s unfavorables, according to HuffPost Pollster averages.

“The way to become really popular is announce you're not running for president,” Biden said Wednesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “It's amazing what it does for you.”

Jesse Ferguson, Clinton’s deputy national press secretary, said Biden speaks from the heart when he talks about sharing a commitment with Clinton “to making an economy that works for every American, not just those at the top."

"Voters know he’s genuinely speaking for them and it’s a powerful endorsement,” he said.

In this April 2, 2013, file photo, Vice President Biden and Hillary Clinton appear onstage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. (Photo: Cliff Owen, AP)

Donna Brazile, interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, noted that Biden, like Obama, has high approval and favorability ratings with strong support in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

"Besides, he's regular Joe. Not celebrity Joe," Brazile wrote in an email.

Biden has acknowledged that Trump is connecting with white, working-class voters in a way Clinton is not, which explains his pledge to be “living” in Ohio, Michigan, and his native Pennsylvania in the lead-up to the election. Democrats have done right by those voters but haven't communicated with them enough, he told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday.

“I think there has been in both parties not enough ... respect shown ... to ordinary people busting their necks,” he said.

The Clinton campaign is counting on Biden’s appeal to resonate with voters in Rust Belt states and in the swing state of Pennsylvania. He was scheduled to campaign with Clinton in Scranton, Pa., earlier this month, but the event was canceled because of the July 7 shooting deaths of five police officers in Dallas.

The son of a car salesman, Biden grew up in working-class neighborhoods in Scranton and Claymont, Del., before winning a Delaware Senate seat in 1972 that he held 36 years. He often speaks on the campaign trail of the hard economic times that forced his father to move the family to Claymont in search of a job.

Biden also could be useful to Clinton in places such as West Virginia and Michigan, states she lost to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont during their primary battle, said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. Clinton is liked in Pennsylvania, he said, but Biden is considered a “favorite son” and a “third senator” to the neighboring state.

Winning back Democratic control of the Senate is a top priority for Biden, a self-described “Senate man.” Rep. Patrick Murphy, running for the Democratic nomination in the race for Sen. Marco Rubio's seat in Florida, is among the candidates Biden has endorsed. Biden has helped introduced Murphy to voters around the state, including Miami and Orlando, with another event coming up in in Tallahassee in August, said Murphy’s campaign manager Josh Wolf.

“There’s no voter in this state that isn’t excited to see Patrick Murphy and Joe Biden standing side by side,” Wolf said.

In January, Biden told an NBC affiliate in Connecticut that “every day” he regretted not running for president. But he told MSNBC Wednesday that rejecting a White House bid "was really just the right decision, I mean, for my family."

“And I, I plan on staying involved," he said. "I'm not going away.”

Biden’s close friend, former Sen. Ted Kaufman of Delaware, said he’s never heard Biden say, “Oh my, I feel bad that I didn’t run.”

Vice President Biden arrives for a walk-through before day two of the Democratic National Convention on July 26, 2016, in Philadelphia. (Photo: Jessica Kourkounis, Getty Images)

“Joe Biden has demonstrated time and again that when something bad happens that he has the character to move on,” said Kaufman, Biden’s former chief of staff.

Biden, who has been focused on efforts to eradicate cancer, told The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal on Friday that he intends to stay involved in all the same issues he’s working on now. He said he'll continue advocating for women’s rights, criminal justice reform, and quality education. And he doesn't out running for office.

“If something happens and it’s appropriate for me to be engaged ...” he said, letting the sentence trail off.

If Clinton wins the November election, Carper said, Clinton will need him as a surrogate and emissary around the world.

“If (Clinton) is smart, and she is smart, she’ll find plenty of ways for him to contribute to the good of this country and the world,” he said.

The Democrat Heavyweights had their say. Hillary will have hers and then it is up to Trump and Hillary to take their platform to the people.

The debates will follow. These are very important events. Trump is very tough, Hillary might fall apart during the debates. There will be no Obama or Bill to help her during the debates.

For now, Trump has the upper hand. He needs to keep the Untrustworthy Hillary mantra going. It is working.

Hillary needs to get the Black votes out. It is highly unlikely that Blacks will vote in large numbers like they did for Obama.

Trump needs to tone down the Anti Muslim American mantra and start taking a serious look at not ignoring the important Hispanic votes.

White Americans are angry at the current political establishment and they see Trump as their voice.

Interesting times ahead. 

I will be visiting the USA in a couple of weeks, it will be interesting to hear what my US friends and relatives think of Trump and Hillary. Few of my relatives whom I spoke with are undecided right now. Most of the undecided are leaning towards Trump.

Trump needs to present substance and facts on his experiences rather than dealing with his usual irrelevant statements.

As noted in another thread; specifically for you - Yugi - to provide ... noted again ...

Title --- The DNC Convention sounds exactly like that of The Republicans.