STATESIDE STORIES: Will the VPs swing the election?
The back and forth mudslinging that has been happening in this most unusual
presidential campaign has people wondering just who they will vote for in November. The Vice-Presidential pick just might tip the scales one way or the other
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By Mary Foran
Following the last debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton, it’s time we focused on their vice-presidential picks and wonder if these choices will swing the electorate one way or the other come November 8th.
Here a little background on each of them for your edification:
Hillary’s choice for vice-president was the attorney and politician Timothy Michael Kaine (D), born February 26, 1958 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He grew up in Overland Park, Kansas, graduated from the University of Missouri in 1979 with a B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude.
Kaine is the eldest of three sons; his father, Albert Alexander Kaine, Jr. was a welder and owner of a small iron-working shop. His mother, Mary Kathleen(Burns) was a home economics teacher. Of Scotch-Irish descent, they were a Catholic family, and Kaine graduated from a Jesuit all-boys college preparatory school in Kansas City, Missouri, Rockhurst High School, where he joined the debate team and was elected student body president.
Tim Kaine at the US Presidential Scholars briefing in June 2016
Kaine interrupted his law studies at Harvard to spend a year in Honduras from 1980 to 81, helping Jesuit missionaries running a Catholic school in El Progreso, learning Spanish along the way.
Upon his return, he met his future wife, Anne Holton, a first-year law student at Harvard. Kaine was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1984.
He was first elected to public office in 1994, to the city council of Richmond, Virginia. He became mayor of Richmond in 1998. He became lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2001 and in 2005 he was elected Governor of Virginia, serving from 2006 to 2010. He was Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011. He was tapped for vice-presidential running mate by Hillary Clinton July 22, 2016.
A Mike Pence speaking event
Michael Richard “Mike” Pence (R) was born and raised in Columbus, Indiana, birthdate June 7th, 1959. He is also a politician and attorney and was elected the 50th Governor of Indiana in 2012. He first served in the United States House of Representatives in 2000. He graduated from Hanover College and the McKinney School of Law, and in 1994 through 1999 he became a conservative radio and TV talk show host in Indiana.
His family were Irish Catholic Democrats; there were six children of Nancy Jane (Cawley) and Edward J. Pence, Jr., who ran a group of gasoline stations. Pence’s father’s family, named Bentz, were from Bavaria, Germany.
Mike Pence married Karen in 1985 and they have three children, Michael, Charlotte and Audrey.
Mike Pence supported the Tea Party movement, noting that he was a “Christian, Conservative and a Republican, in that order.”
During the vice-presidential debate, Kaine was accused of constantly interrupting Pence, and Pence was considered by many to have made the best showing.
The back and forth mudslinging that has been happening in this most unusual presidential campaign has people wondering just who they will vote for in November. The Vice-Presidential pick just might tip the scales one way or the other.
And if all else fails, voters know they can simply write in the name of their first choice for President. In spite of the trouble that would cause for the talliers, that is their true democratic privilege in these United States!
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Images
Featured image, PD
Campaign logos, PD
Mike Pence event by Mike Taylor CC BY2.0
Tim Kaine briefing by the US Dept of Education, CC BY2.0
