It finally came together for me.
I'm a resident of Richmond, Virginia, and this is my first diary after reading others' diaries and comments for four years. I've been hoping for months that Senator Obama would pick someone other than Tim Kaine for Vice President (If I were a gambler I'd have bet on Sebelius months ago). But I had writer's block until tonight.
We Richmonders have had more experience with Mr. Kaine than most. Mr. Kaine was mayor of Richmond for four years before being elected lieutenant governor, then governor. He had a reputation while mayor for talking a great game to his progressive supporters then voting for the wishes of developers and the large corporations such as Philip Morris that have their headquarters in Richmond.
As governor he has not displayed the aptitude for budgetary math nor the ability to reach across the aisle that his predecessor, Mark Warner, had. The last few budgets submitted by Gov. Kaine have had much more difficulty getting passed by the Virginia General Assembly than Warner's, in a chamber with a higher percentage of Democrats (though still Republican-dominated until this year's state Senate) in both houses. He has offered few groundbreaking or impactful proposals in any area; one of the greatest planks to fund transportation was increase the title tax for the purchase of any car. Gov. Kaine's first budget included the proposal to allow localities to not tax the first 20% of the value of any home, something that would have been a windfall to rich, mostly conservative Virginians and devastating to local police, fire, and school divisions. He should have proposed a flat amount, rather than a percentage, not to be taxed.
Nor has he displayed the spine shown at times by another Virginian, Senator Jim Webb. The most recent example of this is his wholehearted embrace of dominant Virginia utility Dominion Power's plan to build a 585 MW coal plant in southwest Virginia. If you're reading this it's likely you can easily write a long essay on the problems with such a plan. As Dominion currently imports its coal from Indonesia despite the coal found in Virginia, support for Dominion's coal plant goes against Senator Obama's energy plan in a number of ways.
There's a reason Dominion is hosting a party in Governor Kaine's honor the first night of the Democratic convention. There are also reasons why Governer Kaine has a mid 50's approval rating here, compared to mid 70's for Warner (I saw a diary on Raising Kaine that referenced a 46% approval rating but was unable to find the polling organization). Disgruntled progressives like my wife and I are two of them.
Not to mention that a hard right conservative, Bill Bolling, would step in as governor of Virginia and be the odds on favorite to wreck our state the way Jim Gilmore did once the 2009 elections are done.
For a few more things refer to this well-written diary from June: http://www.dailykos.com/...
Mr. Kaine's mediocre record would create problems for Mr. Obama while offering little benefit to the ticket in Virginia or anywhere else. Progressives in Virginia might actually be deflated and not campaign for him, if my conversation with my wife's godmother, who volunteers for Barack in northern Virginia, is any indication. Senator Obama, please do not pick Kaine as your vice president.