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Soon: Clinton Introduces Senator Tim Kaine As VP Pick; Police: Gunman "Lone Attacker" No ISIS Link; Kabul Suicide Attacker Kill 64, Wound 265. Aired 11a-Noon ET

Aired July 23, 2016 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we've had up until this point. I'm a progressive but I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander-in-chief.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If Hillary Clinton were man, I don't think she'd get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she's got going is the woman's card.

CLINTON: If fighting for women's healthcare and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the woman card, then deal me in.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'm here today because I believe in Hillary Clinton.

CLINTON: First time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee. Stronger together. Let's go out and make that case to America. Thank you. God bless you and God bless America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're live in Philadelphia in center city's park which is -- we are just days away from the Democratic National Convention now, just two days away if you're counting.

But the big news of the day, the new Democratic ticket, Hillary Clinton will be introducing Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her vice presidential running mate.

She tweeted, "I'm thrilled to announce my running mate, Tim Kaine, a man who has devoted his life to fighting for others." You're looking at live pictures right now from Florida International University in Miami where the two are set to appear together just minutes from now.

CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny is at that event. He's joining us live there now. So Jeff, what are Clinton and Kaine expected to say and do with the supporters there? What is the energy level feeling like today? JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, this is the moment where the Democratic ticket, this newly minted Democratic ticket has the opportunity to try and seize some of the spotlight from the Republican Party from Donald Trump. Of course, they've been getting so much attention because of their convention in Cleveland.

This is a moment for Hillary Clinton and her new running mate to offer something of a rebuttal. I'm told it's going to be a pretty sharp line of attack at Donald Trump. But also a serious speech about why she believes that they are the better governing pair.

That's one of the central reasons are she picked Tim Kaine, of course, a former governor, a current senator. She believes he's a steady and seasoned hand here.

Now I can tell you, Fredricka, we're getting finally our first look at the new sign of this Democratic ticket, Clinton-Kaine. The Kaine was just added to the bottom of the Clinton sign overnight to uphold the secrecy of this pick here.

And that is one of the things that I think is striking if you compare Donald Trump's rollout of his vice presidential nominee to Hillary Clinton's. Certainly it did not leak. It was very secret.

But Secretary Clinton and Tim Kaine have been having private conversations, they've met twice over the last ten days or so. She had a comfort level with him. We're going to see that today on stage.

And of course, he'll be speaking Spanish. He learned Spanish when he was a young missionary student in a Jesuit missionary in Honduras. It's why we're in Florida, ground zero for politics. Today that is going to be front and center as they have their debut -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeff Zeleny, we'll rejoin you in Miami when it happens. Thanks so much. All right, so for more on Hillary Clinton's pick and what this means for the Democratic Party going forward.

I want to bring in Basil Smikle, the executive director of the New York State Democratic Party, DNC Platform Committee member, and Bernie Sanders At Large delegate, Nomiki Konst, and Republican strategist, Boris Epshteyn, who is also a Donald Trump supporter. All right, good to see all of you. Thanks for braving the heat with me.

[11:05:04]All right, good morning to you. So Senator Kaine, also calls himself the happy senator and also very boring. Why? Is he a compliment to Hillary Clinton?

BASIL SMIKLE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: I think he is, actually. That two things that stand out to me for Senator Kaine, one, he's worked at every level of government. Hillary to me is really conversant in public policy. She's someone that's focused on trying to find ways the federal government can implement policy at every level.

I think for her picking Tim Kaine, this is someone that can actually help her do that. Also his views on gun control, he's been so solid on that over the last few years, especially since the incident in his home state.

And so I think what a lot of what she's been talking about with respect to gun control. This is also an ally that she will have in that front.

WHITFIELD: Nomiki, Hillary Clinton still needs Bernie Sanders' supporters, you're continuing to be a Bernie sanders supporter. Is Kaine on the ticket going to help her in that position?

NOMIKI KONST, DNC PLATFORM COMMITTEE MEMBER: All honesty, there's not much we can do at this point, right. We need to unify and find ways to unify to defeat Donald Trump. But it would have been a much stronger ticket if Secretary Clinton would have chosen someone like Tom Perez who had a strong labor background who is part of the administration, who is actually Latino.

But you know, the problem with Senator Kaine is that he ran the DNC and the DNC in the years when they changed from being the 50-states strategy DNC to the fundraising DNC. And this party is a very different party, I mean, almost 50 percent of the party sided with Senator Sanders.

We have a whole new wave of progressives entering this party. So I think the choice of Senator Kaine may have been strategic in a more conventional way. It didn't do anything to help excite the base that really needs to turn out to defeat Donald Trump to unify the party.

I think she needs to do a little bit more work at this point to really listen, get on the ground, hear what their concerns are and actually change some of our policies, not just on the platform but the internal rules of the party. The Rules Committee is actually meeting right now to discuss these things.

WHITFIELD: Boris, trust has been a huge issue -- will continue to be a huge issue for both candidates, Trump as well as Clinton. That Kaine is on the ticket with Hillary Clinton, and we've already heard a prelude from Hillary Clinton that she'll make a lot of references to the RNC, it was scary, it painted a very dark picture of the road ahead under a Trump ticket.

How do you see a Kaine running mate as balancing the trust issue, the trust problem that Hillary Clinton has?

BORIS EPSHTEYN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The Kaine VP pick does nothing but hurt Hillary Clinton because it plays into the narrative that the Democrats are bought and sold by special interest. We talked about that before.

The fact that Tim Kaine has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from special interest in trips, trips to islands like (inaudible), which is an island where only the wealthiest of the wealthy vacation.

Taking $5,000 in clothes to pedal influence. So it really plays into the narrative that the Clintons are in the pocket of special interest.

That is really terrible for those Bernie Sanders supporters because as Nomiki said -- and I disagree with Nomiki on everything stands for, but I admire the fact that she's standing by her conscience, by her beliefs, and not just throwing them out the window and sticking by Hillary Clinton.

So as Nomiki said the Bernie Sanders supporters are not going to be excited by Tim Kaine. They're scared by Tim Kaine. The fact he does represent the old line DNC and the fact that frankly he's terrible on trade.

On trade, he is in exactly the same place where Hillary Clinton is. Donald Trump is the one that's against the TPP. He's for negotiating NAFTA. That's why my inbox is full of Bernie Sanders supporters saying this pick did absolutely nothing for them.

SMIKLE: Look, I have to jump in here because what I don't hear from Boris' comments or anybody else's comments frankly in the last few days, is that never in my 20 years of politics and policy have I heard a nominee of a party make such a speech that was so laced with fear mongering.

There was no hopefulness in that speech. It was devoid of all that and for me Donald Trump does not -- did not do anything to grow his party's platform.

In fact, the platform the Republicans would put forward have been the most anti-women, anti-LGBT, anti-immigrant, I have never seen anything like that.

EPHSTEYN: Can I respond to that, Fredricka?

SMIKLE: Whatever difference is -- whatever differences that Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have had in the past --

WHITFIELD: All right, Boris --

SMIKLE: -- we will find a way to --

EPSHTEYN: I'd like an opportunity to respond. First of all --

WHITFIELD: Go ahead, Boris.

EPSHTEYN: -- over 70 percent of people in this country feel that the country is going in the wrong direction due to the presidency of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton being secretary of state. All Donald Trump did was he's voicing those people. He's the messenger for those people and he's saying it's been bad.

But here I am to move you forward. It was very hopeful. Unlike you, I was there for the speech. The speech was hopeful. It was exciting. Talking about national security --

KONST: That's not exactly what happened.

EPSHTEYN: Talking --

KONST: Boris, hang on a second. EPSHTEYN: Let me finish. Securing our borders --

KONST: We've heard this.

EPSHTEYN: -- making sure we're strong on trade and making sure that America is the leader again and not a follower like it's been under Barack Obama and will be under Hillary Clinton.

KONST: He has no record of doing this.

[11:10:07]WHITFIELD: All right, 15 seconds, Nomiki. All right, Boris I'm going to let Nomiki respond, 15 seconds.

KONST: I have no indicating talking points. You're actually a surrogate for your campaign for Donald Trump and --

EPSHTEYN: And proud to be --

KONST: It was a lot of poll tested rhetoric and the problem with his message is not just that he's trying to tackle the white working class voters. He has no record of doing this stuff. There is nothing in Donald Trump's history. He says that 70 percent of the country wants a certain direction and they vote for Donald Trump. He split his vote between 17 candidates in the Republican Party, 16 candidates, majority of the Republican Party did not vote for Donald Trump.

EPSHTEYN: Over 80 percent of Republicans are behind Donald Trump right now.

WHITFIELD: Boris, we've got a few hours to go today. This is the beginning. This is the spring board. We'll get chance to continue this. We'll have you back a little bit a later on. Boris, Nomiki, and Basil, thanks so much. We'll take a short break right now.

Coming up, Hillary Clinton and her new running mate, Tim Kaine, are set to hit the campaign trail for the first time together. You'll see them together for the first time in Miami. We'll have that live.

Plus new details about the nine victims shot to death in Munich and what may have motivated the gunman. All that straight ahead.

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[11:15:14]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're live in Philadelphia at Sister Cities Park. Come join us for a cup of coffee. We're here for the upcoming Democratic National Convention and we're also waiting to hear from Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine.

But first other news making headlines we're following, German police are saying the shooting rampage in Munich was the work of a lone attacker.

(VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Nine people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a Munich mall. It's still early in the investigation, but police are also saying there doesn't appear to be any link to terror groups.

Will Ripley is in Munich for us this morning. So the shooter is 18 years old and police are now saying that he had been the victim of bullying? What more do we know?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know that there were incidents when the attacker would have been 13 and 14 years old where he was beaten up by a group of young people, Fred, and also the victim of theft, apparently.

We don't know for sure if that is the motive, but police say they haven't found a suicide note. So they have very little to go on right now.

They did find extensive research in his room in the apartment where he lives with his parents, research about shooting rampages, about why students kill and of course, the attack itself happened on the fifth anniversary of a horrible mass murder in Norway where 77 people were killed, the majority of them children.

This is the McDonald's, where it all started. The area is blocked off. The road adjacent to the McDonald's and the Olympia Mall, one of the largest in Bavaria here is back open and there are lots of international press, but also people families with their adolescent kids who wanted to come out here to lay down flowers and stand in solidarity and send a message that they are not going to be fearful about what happened here.

One thing that police haven't found is evidence of radicalization. Even though there was a lot of talk because here in Bavaria in this state in Germany a few days ago there was an attack, a young man with an ax attacked people on a train. It was proven that he had ISIS propaganda in his room, ISIS propaganda, may have even appeared in an ISIS video.

So people were fearful of that and people were fearful that this may have been caused by a refugee because Germany has opened its door to refugees. But the authorities said this was a young man who was born and raised here in Munich, who committed an act where many people died, 27 others were injured.

You can see all of these flowers and candles. The majority of the victims, Fred, all but two of the nine were teenagers.

WHITFIELD: Horrible situation. All right, Will Ripley, thank you so much from Munich.

All right, also coming up we're following another deadly attack, this one in Afghanistan. More than 50 people have been killed by an explosion in Kabul, that's next.

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[11:22:21]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Philadelphia. ISIS says its fighters were responsible for a devastating suicide attack today in Kabul, Afghanistan.

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WHITFIELD: The blast killed more than 60 people and wounded at least 265 others. You can see the chaos that followed that murderous moment. The terror group claims in an online statement that two of its attackers blew themselves up during a large demonstration near Kabul University. A third attacker was shot and killed by police.

CNN's senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, has the latest from Beirut -- Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, devastatingly enough the death toll has risen again. The interior minister of Afghanistan saying 80 people have lost their lives in that attack. We were talking about 31 merely hours ago. It continues to rise.

Over 200 people seeking urgent medical treatments in hospitals. This targeting the Shia minority of the Muslim faith. A group predominately there to protest for trying to get more electricity put into the area of Afghanistan where many of them hail from.

Attacked by three ISIS attackers, two detonating their explosive belts in the densely packed peaceful crowd and the third was shot dead by police. It could have been worse potentially.

Afghanistan really suffering since U.S. forces began to draw down there. They're keeping a few more later than expected. Barack Obama handing the big decision on to his successor most likely there in Afghanistan.

But despite a lengthy attempt by Afghan military backed by with U.S. air power and drones in need to country to kick ISIS out of the villages and hills where they've had so much of their strongholds, they're back, they now try to terrify people in Kabul, the capital -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

All right, coming up, the Democratic ticket is set, Hillary Clinton about to introduce Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate. The two set the take the stage in Miami at any moment. Our special coverage of the event begins with Wolf Blitzer. I'll see you again later on this afternoon.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Wolf Blitzer. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is CNN's special coverage of the Democratic choice for vice president. You're looking at life pictures right now of Florida International University in Miami. In just a few minutes Hillary Clinton will officially introduce the Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate.

Clinton first announced the news with a text message to her supporters and on Twitter saying, quote, "I'm thrilled to announce my running mate, Tim Kaine, a man who has devoted his life to fighting for others."

Making this announcement in Miami is significant, recognizing Florida's pivotal importance in November. It's a chance for Kaine, a fluent Spanish speaker to attract Latino voters.

And Trump is all -- and Donald Trump is already attacking the choice. He tweeted quote, "Tim Kaine is and always has been owned by the banks, Bernie supporters are outraged. Was their last choice. Bernie fought for nothing."

That's from Donald Trump. We have an all-star team of reporters and analysts standing by for full extensive live coverage.

Let's begin with our senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar. She's at the rally in Miami. Brianna, do we expect some of Kaine's remarks to be delivered in Spanish today? I assume he will.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think we are going to hear that, Wolf. You'll recall a little over a week ago when Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton campaigned together in Annandale, Virginia, of course, his home state. He did deliver some of his remarks in Spanish and they were very well-received.

It's something the Clinton campaign certainly see to be an asset. They were emphasizing yesterday that one of the things Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine discussed in their two meetings ahead of her picking him as her running mate was his time in Honduras working with Jesuit missionaries.

So this is something that they are emphasizing certainly in the absence of her picking a Hispanic running mate. Talking to Hispanic supporters of Hillary Clinton who have been so essential to propelling her to where she is.

I think they would have liked to have seen a Latino represented in her pick. But the campaign is clearly making a calculation that Hillary Clinton is more vulnerable when it comes to her moderate side.

When it comes to white males. This is an area that Bernie Sanders out performed her on. This is an area that her campaign is worried Donald Trump could certainly outperform her on, for instance, Pennsylvania and Ohio to a degree that could hurt her.

So certainly, I think this is going to be -- I think the campaign thinks it's an asset he'll speak in Spanish. This is a very diverse university. It's a university where roughly half of the students are Hispanic so I think the campaign is expecting it's going to be an audience really receptive to that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: He's ten years younger than Hillary Clinton. He's 58 years old. He knows her quite well. But early on, he was eight years ago he was an early supporter of Barack Obama, not Hillary Clinton when she was running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clearly they've all gotten over that. This is a moment, though for Tim Kaine who is not all that well-known outside of Virginia to become a whole lot better known right now. He's got his own campaign agenda already in place, right?

KEILAR: Wolf, I'm actually having a hard time sort of hearing you. It's a warbly. I'll tell you that. I think you're asking about Tim Kaine having a chance before with President Obama and certainly that he has had I think a different body of work than Hillary Clinton in recent years.

He's someone who is seen as a moderate for a number of reasons. One that's interesting and we've seen a change is that Tim Kaine used to support the Transpacific Partnership, President Obama's very key trade agreement. This is something Hillary Clinton supported before she changed her mind during this election.

Tim Kaine we have learned from a source had a conversation with Hillary Clinton very recently. We learned this last night. And basically says that the TPP, this trade partnership is something that he cannot support in its present form.

Even though he voted yes on a key procedural movement for it in the Senate. Perhaps you'll see him moderating some of his views to align himself more with the left side of the party -- Wolf.

BLITZER: That's what's usually happens with vice presidential running mates. They quickly moderate their views to coincide with the presidential nominee. All right, Brianna, we'll get back to you. Brianna Keilar is on the scene in Miami for us.

I want to bring in Gloria Borger, our political analyst right now. Gloria, "The New York Times" called this choice, quote, "pragmatic, over daring and even temper and arrow of sharp elbows." He does have an even temper, he's highly regarded in the U.S. Senate.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: He is. He's regarded as one of those people who is really a work horse more than a show horse, you know, very much in the Hillary Clinton model. When he got to the Senate he learned what he didn't know and learned issues and he worked hard.

You know, if Hillary Clinton were making a political choice, she could have picked Senator Brown from Ohio or Governor Vilsack from Iowa. I think she went from somebody whom she knows, who works hard, who can help her govern.

Yes, he kind of helps out with his working class roots as we were talking about last night, his fluency in Spanish and Catholic voters perhaps in the state of Pennsylvania. But this is a choice about someone she's comfortable with, someone she can work with, and somebody who knows his stuff. I mean, she's kind of a wonk and I think he's kind of wonk.

BLITZER: You covered the Congress, the Senate for a long time, Dana. You know that he's well-regarded not just by fellow democrats, by Republicans. Jeff Flake, the Republican senator from Arizona, a big critic of Donald Trump, for example.

Flake tweeted this, "Trying to count the ways I hate Tim Kaine. Drawing a blank. Congrats to a good man and a good friend." He has worked closely with Republicans. And some progressive or very liberal Democrats are a little bit concerned right now because he's a more moderate Democrat, more of a centrist.

[11:35:06]DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The irony is that I think he's not more of a household name because he doesn't throw partisan bombs, which tends to get people more attention. He is a throwback. There's no question.

I watched him in the Senate. He's a throwback to the time when people wanted to get things done and reach across the aisle. Now that is good for, you know, the kind of messaging you clearly are going to see Hillary Clinton do with Tim Kaine.

We are the solid choice, we can get things done. Even though I'm a Washington insider, we can actually maneuver the system. However -- I know I've been talking to people who have very liberal social media feeds, Facebook and Twitter and so forth who are saying that liberal -- many liberal grass roots voters are livid.

Because they think that she is kind of abandoning them so the challenge for Tim Kaine and the Clinton campaign -- I know they know this -- is going to be to explain his record. Yes, he's a centrist from Virginia, but he actually has more traditional liberal policies and positions than people might think.

BLITZER: He's sort of flip-flopped on the TPP.

BASH: That's a key problem for him.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: So did Hillary Clinton though right.

BASH: Exactly, exactly. You're going to hear them talk about the fact he went up against the Nra in a pro-gun state, Virginia. You'll hear them talk about the fact he has been working very hard on issues of education like first hand.

In fact he's not just been sort of legislating about it or working at it from a policy position from the governor's mansion. He was actually kind of in the trenches as a younger guy. Those are the kinds of things you'll hear to try to assuage the liberal side of the Democratic --

BLITZER: It certainly will help Hillary Clinton in the critically important battle ground state of Virginia. HENDERSON: That's right. I mean, 13 electoral votes. You can definitely see the Republican strategy with Mike Pence. That's a rust belt strategy. That's the only way of a Trump can win the White House if he does well in a rust belt.

For Hillary Clinton, it's the sun-belt strategy, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, these states that are much more diverse than the rust belt.

If you look at Virginia, Obama won by 4 percent in 2012. It's a very diverse state, 20 percent African-American, about 5 percent Latino.

In Florida, that is a state that Obama only won by about 75,000 votes. It's about 20 percent Latino, about 10 percent African-Americans. So, you know, they are going to need Tim Kaine's ability to really I think key into some of these diverse voting blocks, not only Latinos but also African-Americans.

BLITZER: The fact that he's fluent in Spanish.

HENDERSON: He also has a real past in terms of African-American voters. He was the mayor of Richmond, the first mayor of Richmond in 25 years, and he has a strong record in terms of civil rights, really fought housing discrimination, won a big case in Virginia. So I think those two voting blocks really tells you the kind of strategy they're going for.

BORGER: You know, Bernie Sanders is not going to raise a stink about Tim Kaine. He's already said he likes Tim Kaine. He's a good guy. Would he have been more enthusiastic for an Elizabeth Warren? Sure, absolutely.

BASH: Or maybe not.

BORGER: Or himself.

BASH: Yes.

BORGER: OK, but --

BLITZER: Elizabeth Warren was I think vetted. Bernie Sanders was not.

BORGER: You know, and look, Kaine is not known as a progressive, even though they're calling him a progressive every minute they can. But Sanders isn't --

BLITZER: All right, hold on a moment. I want to bring in our panel from Philadelphia as well that's where the Democratic convention is about to begin on Monday. Hillary Clinton made her announcement just before the Democratic convention kicks off.

We have our CNN senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein with us, our CNN political commentators, Scottie Nell Hughes and Bakari Sellers, CNN Politics executive editor, Mark Preston is with us, and CNN contributor, the former mayor of Philadelphia, he's proud that his city is hosting the convention, Michael Nutter is with us as well.

Mark Preston, I want to show you this tweet from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Let me put it up on the screen. "I find the VP candidates, Governor Mike Pence and Senator Tim Kaine more palatable than the presidential nominees." Both of those nominees are polarizing candidates. You're hearing a lot of that, aren't you?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Yes. No doubt as you noted earlier, Jeff Flake came out and said I'm trying to find something bad to say about Tim Kaine and he said I can't. You have Lindsey Graham saying he's given the check mark to Hillary Clinton assuming and taking on Tim Kaine on to her ticket.

[11:40:01]You know, this just goes to show you over the next four or five days that the Democrats right here in Philadelphia are going to try to show unity.

We saw that last night. Immediately after the Tim Kaine pick, you saw all these groups come out and say that they were supportive of it.

Having said that, there is the progressive liberal part of the Democratic Party that is not very happy about this. We'll see how loud they are.

At the same time, you have Donald Trump still working right now to try to unify his party after this convention. He brought some of it back together but has more work to do -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ron Brownstein, Donald Trump already pouncing on sizable gifts Kaine received as lieutenant governor and later governor of Virginia. Kaine did report them and at the time Virginia did allow officials to accept unlimited amounts of gifts. But here's the question, could this hurt him now?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Republicans will try to raise it against him, but I don't think it's going to be a sustained issue. I think that the Kaine pick reflects some fascinating political calculation.

First, she doesn't need something really big and dramatic to shake up the race. She didn't have to swing her defenses as kind of a steady approach against Donald Trump is the best one.

Second point is the one that Nia made, I mean, the sun belt is now more of a fire wall for Hillary Clinton than the rust belt. That's a big change in American politics. She's relying more on those diverse younger white collar states like Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina and Florida than perhaps having the confidence in some of those rust belt states.

And the last point I think is one that shouldn't be overlooked. Tim Kaine is a creature like Mayor Nutter of urban America. The Democratic Party is very much now the party of Metropolitan America.

His face is not only the city of Richmond, but the suburbs immediately beyond that and the suburbs of Northern Virginia. In 2012, Wolf, President Obama won 86 of the 100 largest counties in America. He won them by a combined 12 million votes.

He lost the other 3,000 counties in America by 7 million votes and yet it was plenty to win. I think Tim Kaine's pick is a reminder that especially against Donald Trump, he will be strong outside of urban areas, the Democratic Party is betting heavily on the biggest places in America.

BLITZER: All right. Everyone stand by. We have a lot more to assess. We're standing by to hear from Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. Their first joint appearance with him, Tim Kaine as her vice presidential pick.

When we come back we'll take a closer look at Tim Kaine, his background, record, past endorsements and a lot more. Stay with us. Our special coverage continues in a moment.

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[11:46:44]

BLITZER: Any minute now Democratic presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, will introduce her vice presidential running mate, the Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.

While he's well-known in political circles certainly in Virginia, up on Capitol Hill, he does have some serious work to do in making a name for herself with the general electorate out there.

CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, filed this profile of the man who could be one heartbeat away from the presidency.

He's joining us from Philadelphia right now. Scottie, what did you as a Trump supporter think of this Tim Kaine announcement?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's interesting to look at the parallels, Wolf, between the two campaigns. I hate to be the one that's going to bust up the bubble that's going on here.

I want to remind my fellow Democrats that are sitting on the stage with me a little bit about his history. Let's remember, he was chairman of the DNC when they suffered the worst loss in Congress since the great depression.

When he actually gave up his governor's race, he lost to a Republican by a margin of 20 points. Maybe that's because of the $4 billion worth of tax increases that he did across the board in the state of Virginia.

There are a lot of things about Tim Kaine. He might be a nice guy, but when you actually start looking at his policy, he's the only legislator to receive lifetime score of zero with the American Conservative Union.

I mean, Hillary Clinton at least has an eight. Barack Obama has a ten. He has a life time of zero. He is actually very much a progressive if you look at issues other than the environment and trade.

Everything else, 100 percent riding with Planned Parenthood. He actually will be one of those that actually I think will appeal more to the left than necessarily the right.

BLITZER: All right, Jeff Zeleny's report now on who Tim Kaine is. I think it's ready.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SENATOR TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Are we ready for Hillary?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, new partners on the Democratic ticket.

KAINE: Do you want a "you're fired" president or "you're hired" president?

ZELENY: It may be an antiestablishment year, but Clinton's running mate is an insider, a U.S. senator from Virginia and a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

KAINE: And if I have anything to do with it, we'll win again.

ZELENY: By selecting Kaine, Clinton is betting that experience in government not sizzle is the best way to defeat Donald Trump.

KAINE: Elections are just the beginning. The real work starts tomorrow.

ZELENY: He's neither flashy nor show boat, a seemingly safe pick and steady hand, just what Clinton told Anderson Cooper she's looking for in a vice president.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to be sure that whoever I pick could be president immediately if something were to happen. That's the most important qualification.

KAINE: I'm Tim Kaine.

ZELENY: Who is Timothy Michael Kaine? A decade ago as governor of Virginia, he introduced himself in the Democratic response to President Bush's state of the union address.

KAINE: I worked as a missionary when I was a young man. I learned to measure my life by the difference I can make in someone else's life.

ZELENY: It was that stint as a Jesuit missionary in Honduras that shaped and now distinguishes him. He learned fluent Spanish and still speaks it today, which makes him a different kind of attack dog against Trump.

KAINE: If you're a Latino, he's going to trash talk you.

ZELENY: Born in Minnesota and raised in Kansas. [11:50:05]KAINE: The best decision I ever made was moving to Richmond to marry my wife, Ann, 26 years ago.

ZELENY: He built his political career in Virginia, rising from city councilman and mayor of Richmond to lieutenant governor and governor. He's 58, ten years younger than Clinton. Known well inside the party but not beyond.

KAINE: I'm not the one with the biggest profile. I'm not the one that's the best known.

ZELENY: He signed on with Clinton early. This time around, endorsing her in 2014, more than a year before she declared her candidacy. For an original Barack Obama supporter, it was a chance to make up for lost time.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Give it up for Tim Kaine.

ZELENY: His politics are more moderate than the liberal strain driving today's Democratic Party. He's Catholic. Outwardly moved by Pope Francis' visit to Capitol Hill last year. His views on abortion are far more conservative than most Democrats as he explained in this interview.

KAINE: I'm personally opposed to abortion and the death penalty and I've lived my life that way. Law is what it is. I'm going to carry out the law and protect women's legal rights to make their own reproductive decisions.

ZELENY: He's also spoken out forcefully against the administration for failing to seek congressional approval to fight the Islamic State.

KAINE: War against ISIL is just, it's necessary, it's noble, but it's illegal. There's been no congressional authorization for this war.

ZELENY: It's an open question whether Kaine fits the mold of today's red hot politics. Yet his selection could help soften Clinton's partisan edges.

KAINE: When it comes to our leadership in the world, trash talk ain't enough. We need a bridge builder and we've got a bridge builder in Hillary Clinton.

ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Jeff, thank you. I want to bring in CNN commentator, Bakari Sellers. He is a Hillary Clinton supporter. You just heard what Scottie Nell Hughes said that Senate Kaine may be more liberal than either Hillary Clinton or President Obama. I want to get your reaction to that.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I actually think she's helping make the case for Tim Kaine right now. In fact, I think most people will be surprised not only by his liberal record, you know, being opposed to the death penalty and the Keystone pipeline.

But more importantly, some of the things that I looked at in Tim because I was a fan of Thomas Perez and I know there are some who were fans of Corey Booker and Julian Castro.

But the fact is Tim Kaine's record on civil rights for both African- Americans and Hispanics is outstanding. I mean, he led the suit against nationwide early in his civil rights career on fair housing.

I mean, Richmond, you hear the personal anecdotes about Tim Kaine with his relationship at the University of Richmond Law School with the Black Law Students Association. He was the first person to give a speech in fluent Spanish on comprehensive immigration.

So I think that one of the things we're going to find out especially for me and other African-Americans and Hispanics, who helped propel Hillary Clinton to this point. And one of the things that's most impressive about Tim Kaine is that it's fair to say Tim Kaine not only is a liberal, but he is a civil rights champion.

BLITZER: Our CNN political contributor, the former mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, is joining us. We're going to talk later about Philadelphia, the city ready for the Democratic convention.

Mayor, but the fact that Hillary Clinton is welcoming, introducing Tim Kaine in Miami right now, like Pennsylvania, Florida is a key battleground state and because of his proficiency in Spanish, he will help her presumably in Florida.

MICHAEL NUTTER, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, there's no question about that, Wolf. But also it's clear that Secretary Clinton is also focused on the most important aspect which is also governing. Senator Kaine, a city council member, a mayor, a governor and a senator.

He knows about governing and how to run things. That is really one of the most important qualifications for anyone who is going to be a vice president or in a top level position. Hillary understands that and at the end of the day, you have to run the government.

BLITZER: He personally because of his Catholic faith, he's personally opposed to abortion but he does support Roe v. Wade. He says a woman should have a right to make that important decision. Is that at all going to be an issue among Democrats, do you think?

NUTTER: I think until people understand where the senator stands on that issue. I saw a great clip last night on CNN him speaking and answering the question. He was very strong and firm. I think as people get to know more about him and his real record. He has a record open is a champion on civil rights and supports a woman's right to choose. I think that becomes a nonissue.

BLITZER: Yes, everybody is going through his record as a mayor, as a governor, as a chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as a senator in recent years. Everyone, we're only minutes away, take a look at this, live pictures of Miami where Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, they will take the stage any moment now. It will be their first joint appearance, first appearance as running mates. We are going to bring you that live. We'll hear every word that they have to say. Our team is standing by for analysis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:59:51]

BLITZER: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is CNN special coverage of the Democratic choice for vice president. These are live pictures you're seeing right now.

This is Florida International University in Miami where pretty soon Hillary Clinton will make it official, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine will speak as her vice presidential running mate now for the first time. We have a team of reporters and analysts --