Tim Kaine made a big splash on Saturday in his first appearance as Hillary Clinton’s running mate for the White House, savaging Donald Trump’s foreign policy ideas as dangerous and wowing a Miami crowd with fluent Spanish.
Kaine, a 58-year-old senator from the battleground state of Virginia, won many a cheer and laugh and frequent applause as he addressed a campaign rally one day after being tapped for the Democratic ticket.
Clinton beamed as she sat behind Kaine during his rousing and well-delivered speech, after introducing the political veteran as the antithesis of the Republican ticket of Trump and Mike Pence.
If Trump is often criticised as an egotistical blowhard, Kaine came across as an agile, knowledgeable and self-deprecating speaker.
Kaine slammed recent comments by Trump to the effect that if Russia were to attack a Baltic nation, he as president would come to their aid only after assessing whether they “have fulfilled their obligations to us”.