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Hillary Clinton Announces Tim Kaine As Her Running Mate. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired July 23, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: -- 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 there all standing by. Let's begin, though, with our senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar, who is at that rally in Miami at Florida International University.

Brianna, I hope you can hear me. I know it's lively over there. We're told that Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine we believe they're still at the Fountain Bleau Hotel in Miami Beach right now. Their motorcade has not yet left.

It's still a significant drive from the Fountain Bleau to Florida International University where you are. Supposed to start at noon. It's clearly going to start a little bit later. Set the scene for us, Brianna. Tell us about the audience there, the crowd that has gathered.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the speakers already underway. Over my shoulder here, you see Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the DNC. She is speaking. She did speak yesterday in Tampa as well and of course, she is a congresswoman here in Florida.

She is going to speak and as you mentioned, Wolf, it is a little ways from the hotel where Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton were staying so we know there's going to be a break after she speaks, a short break we're told and then there's going to be a big video rollout.

You can sort of imagine what has been produced by the Clinton campaign. I'm sure it's going to be something that they tried to make inspirational about this running mate pick, Tim Kaine and then we're going to hearing from Hillary Clinton first and then Tim Kaine second.

But this is a large crowd. You can only see really a small part of it. This is only large auditorium and we've seen a lot of young people, a lot of students. Of course, this is a large public university and it's a very diverse student body here at Florida International University.

This is really the demographics that the Clinton campaign has been trying to appeal to, that has propelled her where she is today. But she's introducing to this crowd a running mate who is someone who is maybe going to take a little bit of selling when it comes to the liberal wing, for instance, of the Democratic Party.

Tim Kaine, while for instance, on the environment has opposed things like the Keystone Excel pipeline. He's also been in favor of off- shore drilling. He has favored some abortion restrictions, like a partial birth abortion -- a ban on partial birth abortion, which is a late term, a term for late term abortion with restrictions for the life and health of the mother.

And so he has a number of positions including on trade that you would consider more moderate. So she's going to certainly be trying to do some selling.

But we're told, Wolf, by aides close to this rollout process that in the end it really came down to Hillary Clinton picking someone she felt comfortable with that she could work with for years and that Tim Kaine she decided was the man for that job.

BLITZER: Brianna Keilar is over at Florida International University in Miami. You're seeing Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The congresswoman from South Florida, the chair of the DNC, she's speaking right now.

We're awaiting the arrival of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. Gloria Borger, our chief political analyst, is with us. It's interesting because we went back and checked. Back in 2007, shortly after Barack Obama, then a freshman senator pretty much unknown announced he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, Tim Kaine endorsed him and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR TIM KAINE (D), PRESUMPTIVE VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I've been thinking hard about this race and even though it is still early, I'm very happy to say that it is a very simple decision for me in terms of what I think is important in my assessment of where the nation is in these candidates to endorse Senator Barack Obama to be our nation's next president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Interesting. I picked that clip because it was a simple decision for him then. You know who else was running for the Democratic presidential or about to formally announce but everybody knew she was going to be running for the Democratic presidential nomination at that time?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, let me think, could that have been Hillary Clinton. OK, so the world comes full circle. I think it says a couple of things. Most important is that it tells you a lot about Tim Kaine. Campaigns are nasty. That campaign was hard fought, nasty, tough, and competitive.

Hillary Clinton didn't much like Tim Kaine for what he did that day. But what does it tell you about the character of Tim Kaine that both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, right, like him now enough to put him on this ticket and respect him enough to put him on this ticket.

Of course, he's the favorite of President Obama's who was thinking of putting him on his ticket, but he felt like he needed someone with more experience so he went with Biden. But I think it is sort of a testimonial, if you will, to his character.

BLITZER: Exactly one week ago, we were talking about Mike Pence, he was at his first joint appearance with Donald Trump.

[12:05:08]Mike Pence, his first choice this time around was not Donald Trump. As you remember, Dana, you remember it was. It was someone else.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Ted Cruz, which is why it was fascinating to watch Mike Pence try to figure out how to handle the fact that yesterday morning Donald Trump was just annihilating Ted Cruz.

BLITZER: I point that out because it's interesting that both Pence and Kaine they had other first choices when they were making their endorsements.

BASH: That's very true. And to that point, you know, we've been talking a lot about the demographic help that Tim Kaine could help Hillary Clinton with, the fact that he could be a solid -- he brings the policy and the governing part and the political math part of this.

But you know, again, having covered Tim Kaine in Congress since he's been there, he also hasn't been afraid to anger his own party and he was very early on really the first person to press Barack Obama on getting congressional approval for action against ISIS.

And they didn't want to do that in the White House. And so, you know, he has a history of trying to buck his own party. I'm sure that is something that did not make President Obama happy about. But he felt it was something necessary to do.

One other thing I want to say -- that's the policy part. On his biography, we've been talking a lot about the fact that he's from Virginia, mayor of Richmond and so on and so forth, but he grew up in Kansas City, Missouri.

And so he has Midwestern roots. He can talk the talk to people in some of those swing states in the rust belt. He certainly policy wise is not going to make a lot of Democrats happy because he has been --

(VIDEO CUT)

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: -- could be an attack dog, right. But he isn't that way. He's going to lower the temperature. I think that's something everyone thinks this campaign needs.

And most voter will come to know Tim Kaine through television. He's not going to go greet voters in every state. And I think he's able to telegraph a certain warmth via the television, which is important in this campaign.

BLITZER: It's interesting because there be three presidential debates in September and October, one vice presidential debate. Nia, how will the vice presidential debate, Mike Pence, Tim Kaine unfold?

HENDERSON: Yes, I mean, they couldn't be more different in terms of policy but they're similar in terms of their Midwestern roots and the humbleness and warmth. It will be interesting to see if there are sparks that fly in between them in terms of attacking each other. Their records are very different.

BASH: It could be low key and substantive, God forbid. Might be boring.

BORGER: Both of them have run for office and so they're not -- you know, they're not novices at this. They know how to craft attack lines, if you will. They know how to sharpen a message and they've been successful politicians. It will be substantive --

HENDERSON: They know policy.

BORGER: -- but they do know policy. But I also think they know messaging.

BLITZER: Ron Brownstein, you're already in Philadelphia and you've studied this for a long time. A lot of political experts, that's Mark Preston -- but Ron Brownstein, a lot of political experts point out that as far as a vice presidential nominee is concerned, by and large people don't vote for the vice president. They vote for the person on top of the ticket for president of the United States. Do you think that's still true?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I do. I know some of my colleagues on the panel have different views. But I think the vice president in the broad sense maybe even less important than usual and it hasn't been very important usually because Trump and Clinton are such vivid figures.

I think people have such strong opinions about them. It's hard for me to see them be substantially changed by the number two pick. On the other hand, the one place where the vice president does matter somewhat has been in their home state.

And Virginia is a very important kind of linchpin state for Democrats in the way the Electoral College and the demography of the coalitions are evolving. Democrats average under 44 percent of the vote in Virginia from '92 to 2008.

President Obama has won it twice and perhaps more important, Democrats have carried it in two off-year elections when they don't get the surge of minority and younger voters in a presidential year. They won a vote in 2013, 2014, governor and Senate.

If Kaine can help them hold Virginia and they hold the blue wall states, the 18 states that have voted Democratic since '92, they are right on the brink of an electoral college majority with New Mexico and Nevado.

So I think that in the broad sense, not likely to be really important, but if he can help them even just a lit bit in Virginia, that by itself is significant.

[12:10:12]BLITZER: Scottie, I want you to weigh in as well. You're a Donald Trump supporter. In this election, I think it's fair to say, people are going to vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

Their running mates while important and clearly if one of them is elected president of the United States critically important, only a heartbeat away from the presidency.

But almost all Americans are going to vote for Hillary Clinton, they'll like her or they like Donald Trump. They may vote for a third party candidate, but who is atop the ticket really matters.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I do think it matters. Mr. Trump always believed in a legacy. When he is elected in November, I think he's not looking at this whether it's a four or eight-year deal. I think when he picked Mike Pence, he thought of a 16-year.

I want to address this idea of the map. I mean, Republicans regardless of the candidate going in, were already at a disadvantage. We're talking show shored up Virginia is for Democrats.

Why would Terry McAuliffe (ph) on Friday when the State Supreme Court came in and rejected his idea -- he's going to sign off and allow felons to vote, more than 200,000 felons with the State Supreme Court said no they are not going to be allowed to vote, but now the governor is trying to sign them individually.

If Virginia was such a blue state, why is Terry McAuliffe sitting here fighting this issue to allow convicted felons to be allowed to vote in the state?

BLITZER: Mark Preston is our CNN Politics executive editor. You are there in Philadelphia getting ready for this convention as well. We'll all be there tomorrow. But as you look at this pick of Tim Kaine as Hillary Clinton's running mate, what goes through your mind?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, a couple of things. You know, we're making a lot about the fact that Tim Kaine knows how to speak Spanish and they're doing this announcement in Florida and how he'll help shore up the Hispanic vote.

I don't think there's anybody here on this panel to think that the Democrats are not going to win the Hispanic vote. I think when we look ahead for the coming months, I think that we need to watch where Tim Kaine actually campaigns.

Is he going to be campaigning in the Midwest? He grew up in the Minnesota. He's going to be somebody who tries to counter Mike Pence in the Midwest where we expected him to be spending a lot of time trying to get those blue collar voters to vote for them in November? Is he going to be in North Carolina, states that are on the edge but tend to be a little more red? I mean, the fact is Tim Kaine also offers Hillary Clinton something that she really, really lacks, and that's the niceness factor.

She doesn't come across as somebody who is very warm. Tim Kaine has that. In retrospect, if you look at Donald Trump, Mike Pence offers Donald Trump the experience factor, the ability to connect with the Republican base.

So while these are two not dynamic picks, I think they are important picks in the fact that they both offer the two running mates something that they don't have.

BLITZER: I just want to show our viewers on the upper left part of your screen, that's Miami Beach, the Fontainebleau Hotel where Hillary Clinton has been staying. Apparently, the motorcade, I don't think it has left yet, but maybe it will be leaving momentarily, make the drive over to Miami, to Florida International University where she will introduce Tim Kaine as her vice presidential running mate.

Bakari, back on July 14th in Annandale, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., Tim Kaine was with Hillary Clinton and he was seemed to be auditioning for this vice presidential spot and he said this. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAINE: What will be remembered about the failed candidacy of Donald Trump is you're fired. He's a you're fired guy, outsourcing jobs, stiffing contractors being against minimum wage, being against equal pay for women, fighting with labor. He's a "you're fired" guy. If you want a "you're fired" president, you've got a choice. But we're making a different choice, we want a "you're hired" president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So is he going to be an attack dog out there on the campaign trail, Bakari?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I don't think Tim Kaine is going to be an attack dog. I don't think you can make somebody something that they're not necessarily by nature. I think Mark Preston said it best that he adds to the decency quotient.

Everyone knows that Hillary Clinton has unfavorables or issues with honesty and trustworthiness. I think Tim Kaine does a lot to balance that out.

I think you will have people like Bernie Sanders, like Barack Obama, like Elizabeth Warren who are your attack dogs. But at the end of the day, Tim Kaine is a very, very good man, and in politics oftentimes that subtle characteristic gets lost.

Whether or not it's Jeff Flake, it's Lindsey Graham talking about the quality of the human being. Hillary Clinton went out and looked at somebody who could govern, not only who is a civil rights champion, but she said I'm about to have a very, very good person on the ticket.

[12:15:05]I expect to see a lot of Tim Kaine not only in Virginia, but in Florida, North Carolina. If they go the way of Hillary Clinton, that's a beautiful election night for Democrats in November.

BLITZER: CNN political contributor, former mayor of Philadelphia, Michael nutter is with us as well, a Hillary Clinton supporter. Mayor, do you think that this ticket, Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine will be able to recreate that Barack Obama coalition which impressively won the presidency twice?

MICHAEL NUTTER, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Very much so, Wolf. And again going back to something Bakari said, people vote for the president. Where the vice presidential candidate comes in handy is are they a good candidate, can they speak to a variety of constituencies and can you then split the presidential candidate and the vice presidential candidate in different parts of the country and have a multiplier effect?

That's what you're going to have with Senator Kaine. And we saw the same thing with then Senator Barack Obama and then Senator Joe Biden. All across the country speaking to Democrats, keeping us all together.

You're going to see a sea of unity in the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection this week. In contrast to the disastrous side show that we painfully watched last week.

BLITZER: How worried, Mayor, are you that Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party, Jill Stein of the Green Party will take votes away from Hillary Clinton?

NUTTER: You know, we'll have to wait and see what those folks are all about. I think Secretary Clinton and Senator Kaine, we know where our base is. We know where the votes are. And because of the divisiveness of Donald Trump, we actually have access to some other voters who may not particularly want to be a part of that activity.

And so again, this is a group that will bring people together all across the United States of America and it's going to be fun to watch. A hard campaign but it's going to be a lot of fun to watch.

BLITZER: We're waiting for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine to arrive for their first joint public appearance. We'll be back with our panel and special live coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:21:25]

BLITZER: Just a couple of minutes ago. There it is. The motorcade, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, they left the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. They're driving over to Florida International University for this event.

They will be speaking -- Hillary Clinton will be speaking first as she'll welcome and introduce her vice presidential running mate, Tim Kaine.

Interestingly enough it was exactly a week ago at this time we heard first from Donald Trump introducing his vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence.

They've been doing it in the same format, Gloria, on the Friday before they issue a tweet or sent out an announcement to their supporters, then they have this big event on Saturday, then they tape an interview with "60 Minutes" that will air Sunday night.

BORGER: It's kind of to avoid the frenzy that always accompanies a vice presidential pick. So I think in the age of social media, you just put it out there, you give yourself a day, everybody adjusts and then you set up a rally.

Now I will predict that Hillary Clinton's rally will be a little different than Donald Trump and Mike Pence. I mean, what was stunning to me about the Trump/Pence announcement was that it wasn't really a rally.

And it was much more about Donald Trump spending 20 minutes talking about the campaign before he really introduced Pence. I think Hillary Clinton will do it very, very differently.

You'll see both of them together immediately and you'll see a huge rally as we've been looking at the pictures right here on our screen.

BASH: And Donald Trump said a week ago today when we were sitting in these very seats talking about the flip side of this, Donald Trump said explicitly, he picked Mike Pence to unify the party.

While there are a lot of similarities in terms of persona, not a lot, some similarities of persona and look between them, Hillary Clinton chose him for another reason, to reach out beyond the party.

I also think it is interesting that she clearly made a calculation that there's no getting around the fact that she is seen as the ultimate insider. So picking an outsider, what's that going to get her?

It's not going to get her much at all. Tim Kaine is a career politician. I mean, he certainly has other experiences in his life that he's going to talk about but he's a career politician.

Something that Donald Trump is tweeting about and he had some fodder there to say this is a team of insiders and in the year of the outsider, it's a little tricky, but they figure what's the point?

BLITZER: There may be political ramifications and impact and all of that, but the most important thing any presidential nominee needs to do is to find someone who would be qualified to serve as president of the United States if something were to happen.

You can criticize the policy positions of Tim Kaine and Mike Pence on various issues, but both of them, Tim Kaine was a governor. Mike Pence is now a governor. Tim Kaine has been a senator. Mike Pence was a member of the House of Representatives, one of the leaders in the House among Republicans.

Mike Pence is very conservative, Tim Kaine much more moderate, some would say even more liberal if you will. But when all is said and done, they both have the qualifications to be president of the United States.

HENDERSON: They could govern and you can see them in the White House. It was something, I think, that John McCain didn't probably think through enough in 2008 when he picked Sarah Palin, so many questions about whether or not she had the experience and the background to actually govern and be the president.

But yes, I think on balance this is a good pick for Hillary Clinton. It tells you something about what she really wanted to do, which is to pick someone she liked, to pick someone she thinks could be president and pick someone who she thinks could help her govern, who knows the Senate, who knows foreign policy as well.

He's on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. So I think we know something about sort of the electoral strategy in terms of what they need on the map, but also what they think they'll need in terms of governing.

BORGER: Here's also something about Tim Kaine. I don't think he's been sort of bitten by the presidential bug. This is not somebody on everybody's short list, a senator who is likely to run for president. He is somebody who has been a career politician. There's kind of a fine line between career politician and public servant.

BASH: That's very true.

BORGER: This is a man who spent almost 20 years as a civil rights attorney.

BASH: Yes.

BORGER: He was a mayor of Richmond. He's got a resume almost as robust as Hillary Clinton's in many ways, but he never ran or thought of running for the presidency. If I were picking a vice president, that would be attractive to me in an interesting way because the ambition is not so overriding to become president that it would seem to me that he would be a good choice to be a number two.

BLITZER: Jeff Zeleny is in Miami for us. Jeff, what else are you picking up right now?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, when you talk to the Democrats here at this rally, when you talk to Hillary Clinton supporters, they're excited about this moment in the campaign. They quite frankly don't know a lot about Tim Kaine.

So one woman I talked to earlier said she's eager to learn about him. She didn't know he had been a governor. She didn't know me was a Spanish speaker. This is an introductory moment here. That's why they're in Miami. But one other thing I'm struck by, Wolf, is the president. The president released a statement this morning for the first time commenting on this. He said Tim Kaine is a good man. He's also a true progressive.

The Clinton campaign and the White House know that they need to get ahead of this criticism that he's not a liberal. That he's not a progressive here and they think Tim Kaine will make the argument better than anyone. He could make it himself

He knows how to work all constituencies of the Democratic Party. He was the chairman of the Democratic Party. This is one of his jobs behind the scenes, I'm told, at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to sort of win over and smooth any of those, you know, questions about why a more liberal was not appointed.

Bernie Sanders may also be helpful in this. Bernie Sanders and Tim Kaine are fellow senators. They have a cordial, warm and friendly relationship. That could help as well as Elizabeth Warren. She has not said much about this pick.

I'm told in recent days she knew she was not going to be selected even though she had a meeting last Friday with the secretary. She did appear on stage in Ohio just a few weeks ago. She knew in the final days she was not going to be picked here.

But watch for indications and clues that she'll be giving to her supporters as well. Democrats are entering their convention in a formal unified fashion than Republicans. They believe they'll be able to put out the brush fires in the words of one adviser this morning, Wolf.

But today is about sort of cementing their partnership. But we'll see how it goes. Tim Kaine has been on the national stage before but never at this level. He's entering a new phase of his political life as well. His speech will be less attack dog and more introductory and certainly more building up Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: Jeff, you know, Dana as we get ready for the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, Tim Kaine will be officially accepting the vice presidential nomination Wednesday night, Hillary Clinton will be speaking Thursday night. We went through all of the same stuff with the Republican side in Cleveland.

This speech today, let's focus in on what we're about to hear. How much of what they say will be an attack on Donald Trump and how much will be talking about their qualifications who they are, especially introducing Tim Kaine to the American people in.

BASH: I would imagine that because just as Jeff was saying that there's a lot of trepidation out there about Tim Kaine among progressives who were really hoping that she would pick an Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders type, it's going to be biography.

It's going to be what you're hearing from the president of the United States. Just because he's from a purple state like Virginia or historically purple state like Virginia, he's not -- and he has moderate tendencies. He also as progressive sensibilities.

You're going to hear a lot of that filling out his biography. Tim Kaine is not a household name. We know him because we cover him in the Senate. He is also, I'm sure, going to show the progressives that he has some of the Elizabeth Warren in him.

That he can go beyond what you heard in Jeff's piece earlier, that we want to say you're hired, not you're fired, some of that. But it's not who he is.

[12:30:18] BLITZER: Yeah, he's going to be introduced. A lot of people don't know who Tim Kaine is and a lot of people don't know who Mike Pence is. But they're going to get to know both of these vice presidential running mates. We're waiting for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine to arrive for their first public event as presidential nominee -- prospective nominee, presumptive nominee and a vice presidential presumptive nominee.

We'll be back with our panel. A lot more coverage, you'll see it all right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Looking at live pictures from Florida International University in Miami. Pretty soon momentarily we're told that the Democratic Presumptive Nominee Hillary Clinton will be there together with Tim Kaine, the senator from Virginia, her pick for her vice presidential running mate. We'll have extensive live coverage. You'll hear every word they have to say.

[12:35:09] As we await their arrival at Florida International University, I want to bring in our Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron, the polls show that in the battleground states, the key battleground states, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are pretty much neck in neck right now. She might have a slight advantage but it's pretty close. Presumably he'll get a bump I assume out of his convention and then Hillary Clinton presumably will get a bump out of the Democratic convention. That's the way it normally is.

But if this is a close race, people staying home not voting or going with third party that could make a difference, right?

RON BROWSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. And, you know, for Hillary Clinton, the real risk on that front is young people. You know, she is -- if you kind of look at the overall landscape here, Donald Trump is underperforming slightly among nonwhite voters, minority voters. Slightly only because Republicans are starting at a very low paint. He is over performing among blue collar whites which is why he is so competitive in those rust belt states but he's also underperforming on the white collar, suburban whites.

That's where Tim Kaine comes in. Those kinds of suburban voters entering around the big metropolitan areas in the country. And that's why Clinton is in a relatively stronger position than maybe, you know, President Obama was last time in places like Virginia, North Carolina and Colorado. The biggest I think blind spot on the board for her is that she is not running nearly as well as President Obama did among young people. And that's where you see the biggest potential I think with this third party candidate's Gary Johnson and the Green Party.

There was a poll out this week for example within New Hampshire, a battleground state where a quarter of voters under 34 said they were going to vote for one of those third party candidates. I think that is the biggest risk to her that young voters particularly to the laboratorian platform that includes legalization of marijuana might pull away and that will make some of the states she's counting on like North Virginia and -- North Carolina and Virginia tougher if in fact young people fell away to that third party alternative.

BLITZER: And Ron, you and I well remember the election in 2000, what happened in the State of Florida which was decisive and clearly getting then President Bush elected over Al Gore. It was a third party candidate who got 90,000 votes in Florida and a lot of those votes the assumption was votes that Al Gore presumably would have received, right?

BROWSNTEIN: Without question. I mean, the 95,000 votes for Ralph Nader, it's hard to imagine that Al Gore would not have gotten the profound share of them and there would have been plenty to put him over the top in Florida. We have a very unusual situation here. We're heading toward an election where the odds are pretty high than on election day, a majority of Americans will say they have an unfavorable view of each of these candidates and as much as 20 percent to 25 percent will say they have an unfavorable view of both of them and that I think is a real wild card.

What happens with those voters? Some of them I think in the end won't vote which is why despite all the enormous television ratings, turnout may or may not be up in this election. But that is the poll that you could see moving towards the third party candidates. And on balance, I think that helps Trump more than Clinton because I think it's harder for Donald Trump given his own strong polarized feelings about him. It's harder for him to get close to 50 percent than it is for her. If the number you win -- if the number you need to win comes down, because voters peel off to a third party candidate, I think his chances go up.

BLITZER: Very interesting. Bakari, you're a Hillary Clinton supporter. I want to read to you just a few of the tweets. Within the past hour Donald Trump has been pretty active on Twitter. Let me read a couple of his tweets. "I will bring back jobs. I will bring jobs back and get wages up. People haven't had a real wage increase in almost 20 years. Clinton killed jobs."

Then he tweeted, "Tim Kaine has been praising the Trans-Pacific Partnership and has been pushing hard to get it approved. Job killer." Another tweet, "Funny that the democrats would have their convention in Pennsylvania where her husband and her killed so many jobs. I will bring back jobs." And the fourth tweet within the past hour from Trump, "Crooked Hillary Clinton has destroyed jobs and manufacturing in Pennsylvania against steelworkers and miners, husband signed NAFTA."

All right, so you get the point what Trump is trying to do Bakari. Go ahead, respond.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, I get the point but Donald Trump again is a person who stands adamantly opposed to raising the minimum wage. So we're going to sit here and talk about creating jobs and increasing income. I mean, I think Donald Trump is on the wrong side of many issues.

And the fact is -- that I mean, there are going to be many people out there the touting opposition of pro-growth economic policies. Whether not it's Hillary Clinton or Tim Kaine. But you also have people who were very sound in that message, like Elizabeth Warren, like Bernie Sanders.

The fact remains that the team, that the Democratic Party has put together whether not you're talking about the bully at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Michelle and Barack Obama or whether not you're talking about a lot of the speakers that we'll have this week is a lot better than Donald Trump and his band of family reunion members that he's put together to go out on the trail.

[12:40:00] I mean, I think that the fact that Donald Trump has tweeted so much and underscores the fact that when we looked at his speech last Thursday, he gave many ideas without any substance. And I expect what you'll hear today from Tim Kaine is the beginning of a very substantive campaign.

I mean, you have a campaign that is fact free in the Donald Trump campaign and then you have a Hillary Clinton campaign that's very substance-driven. But I will tell you this Wolf, Wednesday night is going to be the biggest speech of Tim Kaine's life. Tim Kaine's going to introduce himself not only to the country but to the world.

And I think that his foreign policy chops, which we haven't talked about much in light of Munich, in light of Nice, in light everything going on around us, his immigration reform plan, his civil rights history are going to be very, very impressive. And I'm just going to challenge my friend Tim Kaine, don't be boring. We're looking forward to it.

BLITZER: We're looking forward to hearing what he has to say in the next few minutes. It will be a very important speech introducing himself to a national audience as well.

Scottie, I like you to respond to what we just heard from Bakari. Scottie Nell Hughes, she's a Trump supporter and CNN political commentator.

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well I think it's interesting that we're having to sit here and go after Tim Kaine, the vice presidential candidate when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state and we're going to rely on the V.P. pick for foreign policy, I think that's more of a strike. But I want to talk about, he mentioned Bernie Sanders' supporters and going in as a united front. You know, I went in of last week but then we were united. We had a little bit of an issue but we didn't think that we're going to have the conversations that we had following in Tuesday, Wednesday.

You know, we just had 20,000 e-mails have been leaked by WikiLeaks as CNN is reporting. These are very, very damaging, damaging e-mails as they talk about between the DNC and Bernie Sanders and majority of them are talking about how the system was rigged, as Mr. Trump has said time and time again.

They're very argumentative, they're pointing out a lot of people within the movement. And you've got 13 million Bernie Sanders voters, 85 percent of them being 45 and under which is that young group that we've all been talking that's going to be needed. It's not enough for Hillary Clinton to recruit them, she has to also engage them and make sure they don't stay home. And right now, a lot of these young voters, you know, what, they might just have something else better to do on Election Day, which helps Mr. Trump.

BLITZER: Jeff Zeleny is there in Miami at Florida International University. Jeff, Scottie just brought up the leaks that Wiki -- the leaks that have just come out from the DNC suggesting that they were -- that at least some of the DNC were trying to help Hillary Clinton as opposed to Bernie Sanders. We have not confirmed those leaks at all but it's widely dig, widely reported today.

What's been the reaction that you're seeing? Because Bernie Sanders' supporters including Bernie Sanders himself, they were very blunt throughout the campaign saying the DNC was not fair, they were trying to help Hillary Clinton.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this could not have come at a worse time for the Clinton campaign in terms of the peace accord that really had been reached between the Clinton campaign and the Sanders campaign. You know, over the last month or so just the temperature went down between their fight largely because of the work behind the scenes with both campaigns, but now Bernie Sanders' supporters who I talked to who are in Philadelphia are outraged by this.

They've been reading these leaks and if these e-mails in fact are true, they believe that what they suspected all along, that the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in fact was in the tank for the Clinton campaign. So, at this point there's very little that can be done in a process way about it. But Wolf I'm told it's opening old wounds. There's actually a Rules Committee meeting going on right now, this afternoon in Philadelphia and it is potentially going to be causing some problems.

I talked to one Rules Committee member last night, he said just simply this foreign gasoline on what had been a doused fire. So, that the reality here is that, my guess is that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders may talk this through and Bernie Sanders may tell his supporters sort to quiet down. But it certainly does not, you know, do much to get party unity internally going to the convention.

This is more of an internal fight, this is not going to spill over onto the floor, I don't believe in a way that we saw last week in Cleveland. But it certainly is going to leave a bad taste with Bernie Sanders' supporters who frankly thought from the very beginning this system was rigged in terms of if the DNC establishment leaders were putting the finger on the scale for the Clinton campaign, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yeah, you make a good point. It comes out this WikiLeaks, all of these documents, all these e-mails from the DNC come out at a really, really awkward moment, on the eve of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia.

Mark Preston is in Philadelphia for us. And I want you to weigh in as well. Donald Trump, he's already tweeting about this, that the leaks certainly are embarrassing to the DNC. You can see the Bernie Sanders' supporters are furious, he tweeted with the choice of Tim Kaine who represents the opposite of what Bernie stands for. Philly fight, question Mark. This is, this is an awkward situation.

And as you remember, Mark, and lot of our viewers remember, Bernie Sanders actually went ahead and urged the chair of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign.

[12:45:06] He's supporting her challenger for that Congressional sit the Democratic Nomination, her congressional seat in Miami in South Florida. It's very, very awkward.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: It's very, very awkward. And, you know, there couldn't be a better Christmas gift given to Donald Trump and the Republican Party than this wiki leaks -- leak that we have seen.

I've got to tell you Wolf, I have spent the better party of two years now talking to the Sander's in the lead up to his decision run as all the way through the negotiations with the presidential debates and what have you. They always were suspect of where the DNC was and where Debbie Wassermann Schultz was, on what side she was taking.

When we talk about bad blood within Democratic Party, when we talk about liberals and progressives not happy with how things are shaking out. This is exactly to the heart of why they are not happy. And they think that it is being stacked against them. They feel that the Democratic establishment shows a candidate before the race even started.

But you know, Wolf, as we are about to hear, Tim Kaine address the nation as you said, to introduce himself to the nation, I do think we should take a step back and think about the politics of this and remove it for a one moment because I think it's important for our viewers.

You said at the top that Tim Kaine would be a heartbeat away from the presidency. He is absolutely qualified to succeed Hillary Clinton were something to happen. As well as if you look at the Republican ticket as well, Mike Pence is as well. These are two men who have both served as governors. These are two men who have extensive experience in Congress. So, when we will be talking a lot about politics, there is the idea of can someone get behind the wheel of the car and drive it down the road. And I think we should take solace in the fact that we do have two men on the ticket that could step in if needed.

BLITZER: I want to bring in Michael Nutter. He's a CNN political contributor, former mayor of Philadelphia. We're waiting Mayor for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine to arrive at Florida International University. They'll be addressing their supporters there, also addressing all of us, our viewers here in the United States and around the world will be anxious.

But for a moment, put on your hat as a former mayor of Philadelphia. I got to tell you, I was in Cleveland this past week. They did an -- a really excellent job. The organization was superb. Getting through the security was really fast, they did a really -- they were really well- organized.

How is Philadelphia going to do this week?

MICHEAL NUTTER, (D), FORMER MAYOR OF PHILADELPHIA: We're in great shape, Wolf.

First of all, we have one of the finest men and women in blue, Philadelphia Police Department of any department in the United States of America. And the partnership between and among Philly P.D. and the United States Secret Service, which is actually overall in charge of security for these events, these national special security events. We had one just last year with Pope Francis and the world meetings of families here in Philadelphia.

So, first and for most, we have a lot of expertise in doing big events. This is a big event. We have 50,000 people, different than the papal visit, very, very different. Everything really kind of self contained down the Wells Fargo Center.

But what people will experience is a fantastic time in Philadelphia. The delegate experience was very, very important to Chairwoman Debbie Wassermann Schultz in the entire site selection team.

The Wells Farego Center is superior in terms of facilities and getting in and out should be relatively smooth. Obviously there'd a lot of people here.

So, you know, folks who plan in advance for that. But they're going to have a great experience here in Philadelphia.

We were proud to put in that bid while I was in office with a great, great team and a great host committee as well. And so that partnership has lead to what will be in historic convention but also just a really great time and a unifying moment for Democrats.

BLITZER: Yeah, I want to applaud the leadership in Cleveland. They did a great job getting us in and out. I think everybody was very, very pleased and hopefully you guys in Philadelphia will be able to do the same thing.

Very quickly, what do you think about the wiki leaks e-mails that have been released. How awkward is it right now because some of them show -- we haven't confirmed this independently but they clearly show, mayor, that there was an effort by some at the DNC to hurt Bernie Sanders, raise questions about his religious faith, his belief in God and stuff like that, as supposed to Hillary Clinton, trying to help her get the nomination. This is awkward for the DNC, isn't it?

NUTTER: Yeah, I think -- I mean, that's probably the word for the day, awkward. You know, the timing certainly doesn't help. I mean all of these things, and a lot of these -- obviously a lot of pushing and shoving that goes on in the political realm.

That does not and folks will deal with that and Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders ultimately will deal that.

That does not take away from the fact that we have an exciting primary campaign, voters went out and voted. The DNC doesn't have anything to do with who voted in this state or that state. Real people engage in this voting process and Secretary Clinton came through with more votes, popular votes, more super delegates. All of that process.

[12:50:15] So, you know, is it helpful? Of course not. Will we get through it? Of course we will.

BLITZER: All right, the mayor is there. He's already in Philadelphia, the former mayor of Philadelphia.

Gloria, we're waiting for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine to arrive momentarily.

They're running a little bit late.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: At least we know they won't have a lot of traffic.

BLITZER: They were running a little bit late. But you know what? They we're happy once they actually show up. It was exactly a week ago as you remember we were sitting in these exact same seats. We were getting ready for Donald Trump to introduce Mike Pence.

Now Hillary Clinton is about to announce Tim Kaine.

BORGER: We know Wolf. And just look at that picture there when we were talking about this earlier.

Last week when we were waiting here, it was Donald Trump in a room with about a couple of hundred of supporters maybe. This is a well- choreographed rollout, more traditional of a vice presidential candidate whom Hillary Clinton spent months thinking about, as did Donald Trump by the way. And I think you're going to see this huge enthusiastic crowd for this rollout which really helps propel Tim Kaine as he starts making appearances on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

Because, you know, as you were saying, he's not a household name, right? People don't know who he is. People in the senate know who he is. People in Virginia know who he is, but she has to give him a boost nationally.

And what she wants people to take away from seeing him today is not only that he's qualified to be president but they need somebody to be seen as likable on this ticket, really likable because as you know, that's Hillary Clinton's problem. People don't like her. Sometimes if you're with a likable person maybe you get more likable or people think better of you because you've picked somebody they like. So this is really important.

He has to be seen as somebody that people trust if they don't trust her and they don't like her. And I'm not saying that people don't vote for the top of the ticket because of course they do. But they have to look at him as some kind of a character witness for her in many ways.

BASH: And it's the same thing on the Republican side. Mike Pence are a nice solid guy. I mean we can all say that objectively just like, you know, we can say about Tim Kaine. They are both picks who maybe try to soften some of the rough edges in the eyes of viewers -- excuse me, of voters, viewers too.

But speaking of that, again, to your point which is so true, looking at that picture of the big rally with the big flag and the new sign and all of the people sitting behind as opposed to where we were last week watching Donald Trump talk for a very long time with -- missing a lighter too on his face and stand brilliant with Mike Pence.

However, this is traditional. This is a traditional ticket.

BORGER: Yeah.

BASH: Voters might not want traditional. Certainly they didn't want during t entire Republican primary process.

BORGER: Exactly.

BASH: And, you know, we're all, again, kind of going back on what we are used to as political reporters and observers as to what works and what doesn't. And everything is upside down this year.

BLITZER: Donald Trump was hardly traditional in crushing 16 other very impressive Republican governors and senators with enormous money, tens of billions of dollars, $100 million and he won that Republican contest going away.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: He did, as he constantly likes to remind us, he did win. And even if you look at his convention, that was very unconventional right? You have the sort of Cruz drama in the middle of that. In some ways Trump likes to embrace drama. He thinks all publicity is good publicity. You have in Tim Kaine somebody who really rejects I think drama. Obama was like that, right. He was always no drama Obama.

So, very different. And I think a very interesting, if we we're yet to see any sort of rally like this I think with Pence and Trump doing a kind of big rollout, appearing together ...

BLITZER: They had been scheduled in Akron but they canceled it.

HENDERSON: They canceled it and then I think, instead Trump gave a news conference, half of it which was spent on his relationship with or non-relationship at this point with Ted Cruz.

And so again, going back through those highlights of the primary campaign, you know, and one of the things I think we get to see between Trump and Pence also is real warmth. They have sort of that weird air kiss moment on the convention stage there.

BASH: We saw it a little bit ...

HENDERSON: A little bit more. Yeah.

BASH: ... when they arrived at the convention. It with us a made for T.V. moment, with all the families and the helicopter and there was warmth there, but ...

BORGER: But, you know, you can see Melania ambivalent or whatsoever. This is your first big decision as a presidential candidate, tells a lot about you. And, you know, Trump decided to go for somebody whom he thought could balance the ticket, unify the party in so many ways.

[12:55:06] So, when you don't have a huge rally, the picture might be, well, I'm a little ambivalent. I'm thinking Donald Trump's case. It's all about Donald Trump. And we knew that going in.

BLITZER: All right. You're looking in -- take a look at the live pictures coming in from Florida International University in Miami.

Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine are expected to take the stage momentarily. Stay with us. Our special live coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Hello. I'm Wolf Blitzer. And we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is CNN special live coverage of the Democratic choice for vice president of the United States.

So, we're just two days away from the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia. You're looking at live pictures coming in from the convention floor.

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, and according to her now, "I'm thrilled to announce my running mate Tim Kaine, a man who has devoted his life to fighting for others."