Tim Kaine's support of the TPP is not sitting well with some liberal groups. | Getty Kaine pick draws mixed reviews from liberals While Wall Street lobbyists rejoice, progressive groups are less than thrilled. 
 
 Hillary Clinton’s unveiling of Tim Kaine as her vice presidential pick was greeted by mixed reactions from liberal groups on Friday night. But one constituency breathed a sigh of relief: Wall Street. 
 
 While some praised his consistent support of labor and women’s rights, several progressive organizations were quick to criticize Clinton's newly minted running mate, urging the Democratic ticket to adopt a more “populist” stance on trade and financial regulation. 
 
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 “The mood of the country is a populist one,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee, in a statement emailed minutes after Kaine was announced. “Unfortunately, since Tim Kaine voted to fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Republicans now have a new opening to attack Democrats on this economic populist issue.” 
 
 Taylor said that Clinton, who supported the 11-country Pacific trade pact as secretary of state before reversing her stance last fall, has opened up a line of attack from Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has ripped such agreements as "bad deals" for the United States. 
 
 "As we saw in Donald Trump’s speech last night, Republicans will run hard against Democrats on trade this year,” Taylor said. “Clinton should push the White House to take TPP off the table in a lame duck Congress in order to avoid this vice presidential pick allowing Donald Trump to outflank her on this key issue." 
 
 According to a report in the Huffington Post, Kaine has told Clinton he now opposes the TPP, though he praised the agreement as recently as Thursday. 
 
 The PCCC's criticism comes after another progressive group, Democracy for America, denounced Kaine in a pre-emptive strike issued before Clinton even announced her pick. 
 
 “It should be disqualifying for any potential Democratic vice presidential candidate to be part of a lobbyist-driven effort to help banks dodge consumer protection standards and regulations designed to prevent banks from destroying our economy,” the group’s executive director Charles Chamberlain said in a statement Thursday, referencing a letter Kaine signed urging the Federal Reserve to consider easing regulations on regional banks. 
 
 Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, who backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, was among those on the left who expressed disappointment with the decision, tweeting: “Att’n Hillary campaign: It’s not Trump who’ll beat u. It’s the people who are going to stay home.” 
 
 While most mainstream groups seemed happy with the choice of Kaine, the risk, some Democratic operatives said, was that Clinton might have just re-opened a rift with the left wing of the party that Trump could exploit. 
 
 “The risk with picking Kaine isn’t about Clinton thumbing her nose to the Bernie Bros, it’s about losing the Rust Belt (where anti-trade and anti-Wall St. sentiment is high),” a Democratic strategist with ties to the region told POLITICO in an email. “Between the Ohio and PA polls and the Brexit vote, this seems like it could be a big risk.” 
 
 Prominent labor groups, however, met the Kaine announcement with open arms. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised Kaine’s “strong record on workers’ issues” while the SEIU vouched for the senator’s labor bona fides, saying in a statement: “We know what is in Tim Kaine’s heart.” 
 
 Despite his personal opposition to abortion, Kaine also received strong approval from several women’s rights groups, including the National Organization for Women (NOW), which hailed the senator as a "proven leader" who as vice president would "work to break down the barriers that hold women and marginalized communities back.” 
 
 “The combination of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine stands in sharp contrast to the turn-back-the-clock, step up the war on women platform of Donald Trump and Mike Pence,” NOW President Terry O'Neill said in a statement. “Women know this is the most important election in a generation, and we also know that we have a steadfast advocate in Tim Kaine.” 
 
 Stephanie Schriock, the influential head of Emily’s List, tweeted, “The strongest ticket for women and families just got even stronger.” 
 
 As if to head off potential criticism, the Clinton campaign cast Kaine as a progressive in its statements on Friday. In an email to supporters explaining her decision, Clinton described Kaine as “a lifelong fighter for progressive causes.” 
 
 And Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon tweeted out a list of Kaine’s ratings from several progressive groups -- all of which have larger followings than either the PCCC or DFA. 
 
 Kaine's ratings from key progressive groups: 
 
 Brady Campaign 100% 
 
 Human Rights Campaign 100% 
 
 Planned Parenthood 100% 
 
 AFL CIO 96% 
 
 NAACP 96% — Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) July 23, 2016 
 
 Wall Street lobbyists, meanwhile, reacted with relief to the Kaine selection on Friday, not because the senator is particularly soft on financial reform but because his name is not Elizabeth Warren. 
 
 “He has demonstrated some interest in banking issues as evidenced by last week’s letter,” one of the top Wall Street lobbyists in Washington emailed POLITICO, referring to the letter to the Fed that Kaine signed. “He's a sign of Hillary being Hippocratic in her pick -- he does no harm. Time will tell if progressives show real angst or if it’s just fringe groups.” 
 
 The lobbyist added that a Warren pick, while never viewed as likely, would have “split the Street” between Clinton and Trump. Now industry cash is likely to keep flowing to Clinton. 
 
 Another lobbyist who had feared for weeks that the Massachusetts senator might be chosen said that Kaine was “certainly more level-headed and substantive than others considered.” 
 
 Dennis Kelleher, CEO of financial reform group Better Markets, said that Kaine was “not going to fire anyone up, but smart safe choice of a really well liked, high-quality guy with good values. He’ll have some work to do on the key issues, but I believe he'll do it effectively and win over those who have doubts or concerns.” 
 
 Authors: ||||| The Fix's Aaron Blake breaks down why Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton chose Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) to be her running mate. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post) 
 
 The Fix's Aaron Blake breaks down why Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton chose Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) to be her running mate. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post) 
 
 Even before Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) was unveiled Friday as Hillary Clinton’s running mate, liberal groups were teed up to criticize the pick. 
 
 Kaine’s boosters say that Kaine, a former Virginia governor and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is far more progressive than many of his critics realize. 
 
 But several organizations, including some with ties to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the runner-up in the Democratic primaries, sharply questioned Kaine’s liberal bona fides, pointing to Kaine’s support of trade deals and regulations favorable to big banks. 
 
 Stephanie Taylor, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, worried that Kaine’s support of a pending trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership could allow Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to “outflank” Clinton on trade. 
 
 [Sen. Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia chosen as Hillary Clinton’s VP] 
 
 Sen. Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia waves to the crowd before attending a private fundraiser in Rhode Island on Friday. (Bob Breidenbach /Providence Journal via AP) 
 
 Trump has been trying to reach out to Sanders supporters and blue-collar Democrats, arguing that his protectionist views are more in line with theirs than those of the presumptive Democratic nominee. 
 
 “It’s now more important than ever that Hillary Clinton run an aggressive campaign on core economic ideas like expanding Social Security, debt-free college, Wall Street reform, and yes, stopping the TPP,” Taylor said. “It’s the best way to unite the Democratic Party and stop Republicans from winning over swing voters on bread-and-butter issues.” 
 
 On Thursday, as speculation was mounting that Kaine would be Clinton’s choice, Charles Chamberlain, executive director of the activist network Democracy for America, which backed Sanders in the primaries, said that it should be “disqualifying” for any potential Democratic vice-presidential nominee to “help banks dodge consumer protection standards.” 
 
 That was based in part on a bipartisan letter that Kaine signed on Monday urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to “carefully tailor its rulemaking” regarding community banks and credit unions so as not to “unduly burden” these institutions with regulations aimed at commercial banks. 
 
 [Kaine’s acceptance of gifts in Virginia could create opening for Republicans] 
 
 On Friday, Norman Solomon, the coordinator of a group billing itself as the Bernie Delegates Network, called Kaine “a loyal servant of oligarchy.” 
 
 “If Clinton has reached out to Bernie supporters, it appears that she has done so to stick triangulating thumbs in their eyes,” said Solomon, whose organization claims to represent hundreds of Sanders delegates attending the convention in Philadelphia but is not coordinating with the campaign. 
 
 Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) is Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's running mate. Here's what you need to know about him. (Sarah Parnass,Osman Malik/The Washington Post) 
 
 The group has threatened to protest during the Democratic convention with Kaine on the ticket. 
 
 Winnie Wong, an Occupy Wall Street veteran who founded the group People for Bernie, was also underwhelmed with Kaine’s pick, calling it “unsurprising and predictable.” 
 
 “It shows a woeful disregard to the progressives who fought so hard this year to create conditions for transformational change this country desperately needs,” Wong said. “Team Clinton did the math on this horse race and they are betting on Tim Kaine to court those white male moderate/Indy voters who won’t vote for her. I doubt they can be moved.” 
 
 Kaine’s selection was touted by other traditional boosters of the Democratic Party, including several labor union leaders. 
 
 Marc Perrone, president of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, praised Kaine for a long record of having “supported hard-working families and worked to make their lives better.” 
 
 “When a plan to sell grocery stores in Virginia was announced earlier this year, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of UFCW families, Senator Kaine stood with us as we successfully rallied the community to save local jobs.” Perrone said. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, called Kaine “an experienced leader with a proven track record on issues from raising wages to immigration reform and racial justice.” 
 
 In picking Kaine, Clinton passed over two Hispanic candidates who were considered, Julián Castro, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez. 
 
 Though many Latino leaders were disappointed, a leading group praised Kaine as “no stranger to the Latino community,” citing the time he spent as a missionary in Honduras. 
 
 “He has consistently put emphasis on communicating with our community, hearing and addressing their concerns,” said Pili Tobar, advocacy and communications director for the Latino Victory Project. 
 
 The selection of Kaine, meanwhile, received mixed reviews from environmental groups Friday. 
 
 The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund proclaimed him an “awesome choice” in a statement. 
 
 “As mayor, governor and senator, he has a proven track record as an environmental leader who has worked to combat climate change, grow our clean energy economy and protect special places in Virginia and across the country,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, the group’s senior vice president of government affairs. 
 
 Greenpeace, however, took issue with some of Kaine’s positions on issues related to climate change, with Annie Leonard, the group’s executive director saying “he still has a long way to go” to prove he’s a “progressive force.” 
 
 The group praised Kaine’s early opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline but questioned his stands on fracking and support for natural gas exports. 
 
 David Weigel contributed to this report. ||||| Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, a leading contender to be Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's pick for vice president, waves to the crowd before attending a private fundraiser event in Newport,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, a leading contender to be Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's pick for vice president, waves to the crowd before attending a private fundraiser event in Newport,... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — Delegates to the Democratic National Convention gave mostly positive reviews to Hillary Clinton's choice for vice president Friday, saying he will appeal to moderates but also do little to soothe disenchanted Bernie Sanders supporters. 
 
 Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine received praise for his wide-ranging experience, even as many delegates acknowledged that he would not generate the level of enthusiasm or party unity as a progressive or first-ever Latino pick. Sanders delegates in particular hoped for the selection of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who aligns more closely with Sanders on positions such as regulating Wall Street. 
 
 "People are going to discount Tim Kaine, and have in the past, and it's going to be a lot more exciting than maybe what Bernie Sanders delegates will think," said Katie Naranjo, a Clinton superdelegate from Austin, Texas. She said that while Kaine may seem like a "conventional choice," he will balance the ticket well for the general election. 
 
 Delegates were heading to Philadelphia for the convention starting Monday, with those who support Sanders indicating uncertainty about embracing a Clinton ticket. Sanders endorsed Clinton last week. 
 
 It "was a horrible pick," said Angie Morelli, a Sanders delegate from Nevada. "In a time when she is trying to cater to Sanders supporters, it was more catering to conservative voters and she's not going to get any wave from it." She said she's bothered by Kaine's association with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a global trade pact that Sanders and Clinton oppose. 
 
 Dwight Bullard, a Florida state senator, said not one of the 70-plus Sanders delegates in his state including himself is happy with Kaine's selection. He worried that the centrist choice could magnify progressives' view that Clinton will backtrack on issues important to them, such as climate change and tuition aid for college students. 
 
 "If you bring in someone with great credentials, that's fine, but inclusivity of the progressive agenda can be a more important message," Bullard said. 
 
 Sanders delegates were mulling ways to show support for Sanders during the convention, such as a walkout after the roll call of states Tuesday, according to excerpts of a Slack thread Friday obtained by The Associated Press. But many others also said they wanted to get direction from Sanders, who was scheduled to meet privately with his delegates Monday. 
 
 "Delegates are intensely discussing and considering options," said Norman Solomon, a San Francisco delegate who called Kaine's selection "unacceptable." Solomon leads the Bernie Delegates Network, a loose organization of more than 1,200 delegates. 
 
 Clinton settled on Kaine after vetting a diverse group of candidates that included Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and Labor Secretary Tom Perez. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, one of two black senators, was also considered. 
 
 Clinton delegate Roger Salazar of California said he was rooting for Clinton to select Rep. Xavier Becerra, a Hispanic and one of the most powerful Democrats in the House. But Salazar, a longtime party strategist, called Kaine "a pretty solid choice." 
 
 Jocelyn Bucaro, an Ohio superdelegate and Clinton supporter, praised Kaine as someone who will appeal to a broad range of voters in swing states, even Republicans uncomfortable with Trump. 
 
 "The most important consideration is his ability to step in as president, and he clearly has the experience, knowledge, intelligence and temperament to do that," Bucaro said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Austin, Texas; Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas; Michael Blood in Los Angeles; and Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Ohio, contributed to this report. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Hope Yen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hopeyen1 ||||| In Orlando, she laid flowers on a makeshift memorial outside the Pulse nightclub, where a gunman who expressed sympathy with the Islamic State killed 49 people last month. At an earlier round-table discussion with emergency medical workers and elected officials, Mrs. Clinton nodded solemnly and hardly spoke, an implicit contrast with Mr. Trump’s 75-minute speech on Thursday night. 
 
 At a rally in Tampa on Friday evening, Mrs. Clinton blasted the bleak vision of America presented by her Republican rival. “The last thing that we need is somebody who is running for president who talks trash about America,” Mrs. Clinton said. 
 
 She showed solidarity with Mr. Trump’s top primary rival, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. “I mean, I never thought I’d say these words, but Ted Cruz was right,” she said, and then quoted Mr. Cruz’s despondent Wednesday night speech. “Vote your conscience.” 
 
 Now some of the job of discrediting Mr. Trump will fall to Mr. Kaine, who wrote on Twitter that he was eager to hit the campaign trail. 
 
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 “Just got off the phone with Hillary,” he said. “I’m honored to be her running mate.” 
 
 Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kaine have similar positions on many issues, and they are said to share an easy rapport and an interest in policy details. “I do have a fondness for wonks,” Mrs. Clinton said in the PBS interview. 
 
 Asked whether Mr. Kaine was boring, Mrs. Clinton said, “I love that about him.” She added, “He’s never lost an election.” 
 
 Republicans seized on the selection and tried to sow discord among Democrats, arguing that the pick was evidence that Mrs. Clinton had been dishonest with her party’s liberal base. 
 
 “Hillary Clinton’s choice of Tim Kaine does nothing to unify a fractured Democrat base which is repelled by her dishonesty and cronyism,” Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement. “After spending last week pandering to grass-roots Democrats with Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton has chosen someone who holds positions that she’s spent the entire primary trying to get to the left of.” 
 
 The Trump campaign quickly labeled Mrs. Clinton’s new running mate “Corrupt Kaine,” pointing to lavish gifts he had received during his years as governor and lieutenant governor of Virginia. 
 
 “It’s only fitting that Hillary Clinton would select an ethically challenged insider like Tim Kaine who’s personally benefited from the rigged system,” said Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr. Trump. 
 
 While many Democrats swiftly praised the move, some in the party’s liberal wing expressed dismay, claiming that Mr. Kaine was out of step with it on some of its core issues, like trade. 
 
 “As we saw in Donald Trump’s speech last night, Republicans will run hard against Democrats on trade this year,” said Stephanie Taylor, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Unfortunately, since Tim Kaine voted to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Republicans now have a new opening to attack Democrats on this economic populist issue.” 
 
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 She added, “The mood of the country is a populist one.” 
 
 The son of a welder who owned a small metalworking shop, Mr. Kaine, a Roman Catholic, grew up around Kansas City, Mo. He attended a Jesuit school and took a break from law school at Harvard to spend time as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, an experience that his family has said shaped him and helped him become fluent in Spanish. 
 
 Early in his career, Mr. Kaine worked on fair housing and civil rights issues as a lawyer. He was elected to the City Council in Richmond, Va., in 1994, and proceeded to climb the ranks of elected office in the state. He became the city’s mayor in 1998, the state’s lieutenant governor in 2002 and the governor in 2006. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. 
 
 As governor, Mr. Kaine drew some support from rural parts of the state as well as strong backing in the state’s Democratic-leaning suburban areas. He led the state through one of its darkest times, the shooting at Virginia Tech that killed 32 people in 2007. In 2013, Mr. Kaine implored the United States Senate to find a “small measure of courage” to fight the gun lobby and impose tougher background checks on gun ownership. 
 
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 Mr. Kaine was an early endorser of Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid in the 2008 nominating fight against Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Kaine was also considered on Mr. Obama’s shortlist of vice-presidential candidates before Mr. Obama selected Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware. In 2012, Mr. Kaine defeated George Allen, a Republican, to take the Senate seat being vacated by the Democrat Jim Webb. 
 
 Mrs. Clinton’s choice of Mr. Kaine underscores the rising political importance of Virginia, a state with a significant suburban and minority population. 
 
 Mr. Obama defeated John McCain in the state by more than six percentage points, the first time since Lyndon B. Johnson’s victory in 1964 that the state had voted for a Democratic presidential nominee. An NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll from July 15 shows Mrs. Clinton ahead of Mr. Trump for the state’s 13 electoral votes by nine percentage points. 
 
 The search for a running mate began in April, after Mrs. Clinton had decisively won the New York primary, with a number of candidates. 
 
 Mrs. Clinton came to the process with a unique vantage point, having been closely involved in her husband’s selection of Senator Al Gore of Tennessee in 1992, a choice that brought youth and Southern charm to a ticket already overflowing with it. 
 
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 With just days remaining before her announcement of a running mate, Mrs. Clinton had not yet made up her mind as her advisers debated what attributes voters might want in a vice president. 
 
 As the search narrowed, Mrs. Clinton wanted to test her chemistry on the campaign trail with Mr. Kaine. After their Virginia rally last week, she invited him to her home in Washington for a meeting that lasted until 10:30 p.m. 
 
 Last Saturday, the day after meeting with other candidates in Washington, she invited Mr. Kaine and his wife to lunch at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., with her family. 
 
 At 7:30 p.m. Friday, just after her fiery speech in Tampa, Mrs. Clinton called Mr. Kaine to give him the news, before calling President Obama to let him know that she had chosen his friend. ||||| Tim Kaine isn’t just with her — the Virginia senator will also be on Hillary Clinton’s ticket, her campaign announced Friday evening. 
 
 While Kaine’s selection ends a months-long process for the Clinton campaign, his consideration for the vice presidency has been eight years in the making. He was an early endorser of Barack Obama in 2008 and was a top contender on Obama’s shortlist. 
 
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 Similarly, Kaine was “Ready for Hillary” even before the now-presumptive Democratic presidential nominee had launched her campaign, having endorsed Clinton nearly a year before she entered the race last April. Now, he’s ready for the White House. 
 
 “I'm thrilled to announce my running mate, @timkaine, a man who's devoted his life to fighting for others. –H," Clinton said in a tweet to supporters. She also alerted her followers by text, keeping the campaign’s promise to share the news “first with those who’ve been by Hillary’s side the longest.” 
 
 About a half-hour after the news broke, Kaine said he was “honored” to join the ticket and couldn’t wait to campaign. 
 
 
 
 “Just got off the phone with Hillary,” he wrote. “I’m honored to be her running mate. Can’t wait to hit the trail tomorrow in Miami!” 
 
 Clinton hailed Kaine in an email to supporters as “a lifelong fighter for progressive causes and one of the most qualified vice presidential candidates in our nation's history.” 
 
 “I have no doubt that Tim can do the job,” she said. “I want him by my side on the trail and in the White House.” 
 
 Media reports had pointed to Kaine as the front-runner, speculation further fueled Friday morning with a tweet coming from Clinton’s grass-roots organizing team in the battleground state Kaine represents. 
 
 Clinton’s campaign, however, had maintained that the former secretary of state hadn’t finalized her decision — until the text message was blasted to supporters’ phones. 
 
 Trump argued Friday morning that Clinton’s imminent declaration was to distract from the “tremendous success” of the four-day Republican National Convention. 
 
 “Hillary’s trying to pick her vice president as fast as possible because she wants to take away a little of the success that we had at this convention,” he said, addressing volunteers in Cleveland one day after accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for president. Clinton later called the GOP convention “perversely flattering” and derided its speakers for spending “so much time talking about me.” But the former secretary of state’s veep announcement was delayed — likely due to the news of a terrorist attack in Munich, Germany, that killed at least 10 people. 
 
 But in a text to his own supporters Friday evening, Trump called Kaine, Clinton and Obama the “ultimate insiders” and warned against a third Obama term. 
 
 “The ultimate insiders - Obama, Hillary, and Kaine,” the text message said. “Don't let Obama have a 3rd Term.” 
 
 Conventional wisdom suggested Kaine, a Spanish-speaking lawmaker with executive and leadership experience as a former Richmond mayor, lieutenant governor, governor and DNC chair, would emerge as the vice presidential nominee. 
 
 He was considered a safe but boring pick. Kaine serves on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations panels in the Senate and is the type of candidate who is unlikely to hurt the ticket with controversial stands or painful gaffes. And his selection would allow Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to name his temporary replacement for the Senate. 
 
 His selection drew praise from Democrats and even some Republicans. 
 
 Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid described Kaine as “a leading voice in navigating the toughest international issues of our time” and a man who brings “exceptional foreign and domestic policy experience” to the ticket. 
 
 “The Clinton-Kaine ticket is everything the Trump-Pence ticket is not: competent, steady and committed to giving all Americans a fair shot to succeed,” the Nevada Democrat said in a statement. 
 
 Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) congratulated Kaine after joking that he drew a blank trying to tally how much he hates his Senate colleague. 
 
 “Congrats to a good man and a good friend,” he tweeted. 
 
 Kaine, however, did come under fire this week from progressives for supporting loosening regulations on banks. He’s also personally against abortion and has moderate positions on trade and financial regulations. And he lacks the star power of someone like progressive darling Elizabeth Warren — which is likely a plus for the campaign since his addition to the ticket doesn’t threaten to take the spotlight off Clinton. 
 
 Kaine was at a Boston fundraiser Friday afternoon and attended another one in Rhode Island later Friday. But he declined to engage when asked whether he had spoken to Clinton. 
 
 “No news to report,” Kaine told CNN, smiling toward the camera as he walked off after signing baseballs inside an airport. 
 
 Kaine told reporters Thursday he was “glad the waiting game” was almost over. 
 
 “Having been through this once before, I kind of know what the rhythm of it is,” he said of his VP prospects Thursday. “There’s a day when there will be an answer.” 
 
 That day came Friday — after Clinton participated in a roundtable in Orlando and a rally at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa in the afternoon. Clinton is expected to roll out her new running mate on Saturday at a rally at Florida International University in Miami. The university has a 60 percent Hispanic population 
 
 Clinton’s campaign sought to capitalize on Trump’s bungled veep rollout by highlighting the billionaire’s shortcomings and avoiding similar mistakes. The real estate mogul announced Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate in a tweet last week, and the two appeared together last Saturday at the New York Hilton Midtown behind Trump’s “Make America Great Again”-branded lectern in lieu of the widely mocked Trump-Pence logo that had appeared in a joint fundraising email. Trump also dominated the mic, speaking for roughly 30 minutes while Pence spoke for about 12 minutes. And a leaked report suggested Trump had confronted aides about getting out of his pick before the official rollout. 
 
 In contrast, Clinton’s campaign stressed earlier this week that there would be no “accidental tweets or leaks to the press” regarding her VP. What’s more, Clinton will introduce her running mate in Florida, a swing state where, according to POLITICO’s Battleground States Project, Clinton narrowly leads Trump, 43.6 percent to 41.8 percent. 
 
 Kaine’s fluency in Spanish, which came as a result of his missionary work in Honduras, can help Clinton appeal to the Hispanic community, a key voting bloc that Trump has continually alienated by attacking a federal judge over his Mexican heritage, celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a taco bowl tweet while proclaiming his love for Hispanics, threatening to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and pledging to build a wall on the southern border that he has insisted Mexico will pay for, to name a few. 
 
 The pair first appeared at a joint rally together last week in Northern Virginia, where an unusually energized Kaine tore into Trump in what was viewed as his veep audition. 
 
 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had emerged in recent days as another serious contender, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker reportedly rounded out the top tier of Clinton’s short list. 
 
 poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201607/2546/1155968404_5047136732001_5047092305001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true 
 
 Warren, the liberal firebrand, had all but crossed herself off the list on Thursday, though, dashing hopes of a historic two-woman ticket. 
 
 “Stephen, I think if it were me, I would know it by now,” the Massachusetts senator told “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert. “So probably not. But look, she’s got lots of good choices and I’m excited about seeing who she’s going to pick.” 
 
 Vilsack had cited the Hatch Act on Thursday when asked about the VP speculation, telling reporters who were covering a town hall meeting on opioid abuse that “it basically prohibits me from answering that question.” 
 
 Booker, a rising star in the Democratic Party, appeared on Clinton’s Snapchat account on Thursday, as well as a news conference with Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Minnesota Sen. Al Franken to condemn Trump’s rhetoric. 
 
 In an interview later with CNN's Jake Tapper, the New Jersey senator said he didn’t know who Clinton’s running mate would be, but “the great thing about it is she has tremendous choices. They’re really quality people within our party.” 
 
 Obama administration officials Julian Castro, the Housing and Urban Development secretary, and Tom Perez, the Labor secretary, would have been the first Hispanic vice presidential candidate of a major party. But reports suggested the two lacked the experience Clinton sought in a No. 2. 
 
 The White House extolled Clinton’s choices from Obama’s Cabinet this week. And, in perhaps what was another telling sign, praised Kaine unprompted. 
 
 “You didn’t ask me about Sen. Kaine," press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday to radio host Bill Press, who responded that the Virginia senator is not a member of the administration. 
 
 “That is true, but he is somebody who is the subject of some rather intense public speculation about serving,” Earnest said, adding, “Sen. Kaine is somebody that the president deeply respects, and, I think, it’s been publicly reported was even considered himself as a running mate back in 2008.” 
 
 Clinton and Kaine will officially be nominated as the Democratic Party’s presidential and vice presidential candidates during the Democratic National Convention next week in Philadelphia.
– Hillary Clinton has joined Donald Trump in selecting a white man from a swing state who describes himself as "boring" for a running mate—and liberal Democrats, especially Bernie Sanders supporters, aren't exactly fired up about Sen. Tim Kaine. Clinton, however, describes the former Virginia governor as "a lifelong fighter for progressive causes," and both Wall Street donors and labor groups are happy with the choice. Republicans, meanwhile including RNC chief Reince Priebus, were quick to highlight the party divisions. A round-up of reactions: The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is among the groups not happy about Kaine's past support for the big trade deals criticized by Donald Trump. "The mood of the country is a populist one," group co-founder Stephanie Taylor said in a statement to Politico. "Unfortunately, since Tim Kaine voted to fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Republicans now have a new opening to attack Democrats on this economic populist issue." Union chiefs expressed their support for Kaine, including Service Employees International Union chief Mary Kay Henry, who called him "an experienced leader with a proven track record on issues from raising wages to immigration reform and racial justice," the Washington Post reports. The Trump campaign wasted no time coming up with a nickname for Kaine: It is calling him "Corrupt Kaine," based on gifts he received as governor, the New York Times reports. "It's only fitting that Hillary Clinton would select an ethically challenged insider like Tim Kaine who’s personally benefited from the rigged system," a Trump spokesman says. Wall Street lobbyists are satisfied with the choice, especially since the other candidates being vetted included Elizabeth Warren. "He's a sign of Hillary being Hippocratic in her pick—he does no harm," a top lobbyist tells Politico. "Time will tell if progressives show real angst or if it’s just fringe groups." The National Organization of Women supports Kaine: "The combination of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine stands in sharp contrast to the turn-back-the-clock, step up the war on women platform of Donald Trump and Mike Pence," NOW President Terry O'Neill said in a statement. "Women know this is the most important election in a generation, and we also know that we have a steadfast advocate in Tim Kaine." Norman Solomon, who says his "Bernie Delegates Network" represents hundreds of Sanders delegates, calls Kaine "a loyal servant of oligarchy." "If Clinton has reached out to Bernie supporters, it appears that she has done so to stick triangulating thumbs in their eyes," he tells the Washington Post. The AP spoke to convention delegates and found that Clinton supporters consider Kaine a "solid" choice who will appeal to a range of voters, while Sanders supporters are deeply unhappy with the choice. It "was a horrible pick," says Angie Morelli, a Sanders delegate from Nevada. "In a time when she is trying to cater to Sanders supporters, it was more catering to conservative voters and she's not going to get any wave from it." USA Today lists some facts about Kaine, who is fluent in Spanish and is one of just 20 people to have been a mayor, a governor and a US senator.