We may know more in a few hours, as it’s expected that Hillary Clinton will choose her running mate as early as today, but at this writing it looks like the choice will be Virginia Senator (and former Governor) Tim Kaine. Politico reads the tea leaves pointing to Kaine, an unexciting, risk-averse choice who is regarded as a centrist by Democratic standards because he’s not cut from the Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren mold on economics. Kaine is apparently being pushed by key Hillary ally Terry McAuliffe, the state’s current (and once again scandal-embattled) Governor. Picking Kaine would be quite the unimaginative climb-down from expectations of a Hispanic running mate like young, charismatic HUD Secretary Julian Castro or progressive favorite Labor Secretary Thomas Perez. A source emails me: “The advance team is already on the ground in Richmond and the VA delegation has been moved directly next to New York on the floor of the convention.”
We’ll know soon enough if this is a head fake.