Gov. Timothy Kaine spoke to Politics Prof. Larry Sabato's PLAP 101 "Introduction to American Politics" class yesterday, discussing his experiences in politics and urging students to become more involved in the political world.
"I never thought I would be in politics," Kaine said. "I don't remember a single political discussion ... growing up."
Kaine said his interest in politics changed, however, when he disagreed with the Richmond City Council and decided to run for his own council seat. He later became mayor of Richmond and was "on the way out of politics" when he decided to run for lieutenant governor of the commonwealth after the late Emily Couric, who had fallen ill because of pancreatic cancer, pulled out of the race.
As for his current job as governor, Kaine described his work as 60 percent executive, 30 percent legislative and 10 percent political.
"Of the three pieces [of my job], the legislative is probably the hardest," Kaine said, noting that for the first two years of his gubernatorial term both the House of Delegates and the Senate were controlled by Republicans.
"This session we had a Democratic Senate and a Republican House," Kaine noted, adding that as the margin between Democrats and Republicans has grown smaller it has become easier for him to pass social services legislation, such as mental health reform, that he is concerned about.
Although Kaine said he is pleased with the increased number of Democratic seats in both the commonwealth and federal governments, he emphasized that he does not view himself as an overly partisan person, adding that he believes passionately in freedom of choice.
In this vein, Kaine said he has exercised his freedom of choice by endorsing presidential candidate Barack Obama. During the second half of his talk, Kaine discussed this support, noting that he was the first politician outside of Illinois to endorse the Illinois Democratic senator publicly.
"He has an excellence of character judgement and motivation," Kaine said of Obama, "and a coolness under pressure that is incredibly important in a president."
Kaine also noted that he believes Obama focuses on small donors, registering voters and involving younger generations, who have become like "the foot soldiers" of his campaign.
"Obama is a community organizer," Kaine said.
During a period for questions, however, first-year College student Alex Cortes questioned Kaine's endorsement of Obama and asked him to reconcile how he can promote a candidate who did not support the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, when he himself has previously been on the record as saying he is against abortion.
"I was really disappointed with Barack's vote," Cortes said after the lecture had ended. "If [Obama] is against that kind of legislation, I don't think [Kaine] should support Obama."
Kaine replied to Cortes' question, noting that a number of pro-life advocates support Obama and adding that "no one is for abortion." Kaine later added that he does not believe criminalizing health care choices of women and their doctors is the proper way to fight abortion, saying the government should instead focus on providing easier access to contraceptives.
First-year College student Marcella Coburn said she felt Kaine responded to students' questions well.
"He seemed very knowledgeable," Coburn said. "There were a lot of issue-based questions that were ... specific to Virginia politics, and I thought he did a good job answering them."
In addition to answering students' questions about state and national politics, Kaine also urged students to involve themselves in the political process, citing two phenomena that make him pessimistic about politics: unwillingness of good people to run for office and low voter turnout.
"I encourage you to be interested ... and be engaged," Kaine said, "and you will find it to be incredibly challenging and incredibly satisfying"
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