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| Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., arrive at a rally at Florida International University Panther Arena in Miami, Saturday, July 23, 2016. |
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine campaigning together Saturday for the first time as running mates, promoting a message of optimism after a Republican convention where many speakers warned America is in decline.
Clinton introduced Kaine to a crowd of enthusiastic supporters in Florida, saying she and her choice for vice president would "offer a very different vision" for America, one that calls for "building bridges, not walls," in contrast to Republican presidential nomimee Donald Trump.
The former secretary of state said the Democratic Party convention, beginning Monday in Philadelphia, would emphasize the message that "embracing diversity" makes America great.
Clinton portrayed Kaine as a fighter for minorities and the impoverished. The U.S. senator is "everything Donald Trump and [running mate] Mike Pence are not," she told a cheering crowd in Miami.
Kaine supports tighter restrictions on guns and equal rights for women, including their right to make their own decisions about abortion, Clinton said, and she hailed his record in support of equal rights for gay and transgender people, as well as immigration reform.
Kaine himself criticized Trump as a callous businessman who "leaves a trail of wrecked lives everywhere he goes."
The senator spoke partly in fluent Spanish during his remarks, in which he introduced himself to voters, talked about his family, his values growing up, and his career as a mayor, a governor and member of Congress. He said his family embrace "faith, family and work" as their main values.
"I believe in making a positive difference in people's lives," Kaine said, describing his experiences as a young missionary in Honduras, where he learned Spanish while working as a manual laborer alongside Honduran youth.
While in that Central American nation, Kaine said, "I got a firsthand look at ... dictatorship. A few people had all the power and everybody else got left behind."
He said his approach to public life was the same as Clinton's: "Do all the good you can. Be of service to one another."
If elected in November, a Clinton-Kaine administration would aim to present during its first 100 days in office a new immigration reform plan, with a specific program offering citizenship to arrivals from abroad.
Kaine also promised to stem the nation's gun violence epidemic, describing his experience as Virginia governor during the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 in which 32 people died. It was "the worst day of my life," Kaine said, and he pledged that "Hillary and I will not rest" until the U.S. establishes a system of universal background checks for those who purchase firearms and closes loopholes that allow criminals and terrorists to gain access to guns.
"These are tough times for many people in our country, but we're tough people," Kaine said as he concluded his speech. "Tough times don't last, but tough people do."
WATCH: Clinton, Kaine Promote Message of Optimism in Florida
Kaine is a veteran Democratic politician who describes himself as "boring." He is a moderate who has the potential to attract voters repelled by Trump and those who may have a hard time fully embracing Clinton.
"He's never lost an election. He was a world-class mayor, governor and senator and is one of the most highly respected senators I know," Clinton told CBS News.
"The most important consideration is his ability to step in as president, and he clearly has the experience, knowledge, intelligence and temperament to do that," said Jocelyn Bucaro, a convention delegate from Ohio who supports Clinton.
Kaine, 58, was born in Minnesota 58 and is a lawyer trained at Harvard University, the same school that President Barack Obama attended. He took a year's sabbatical while in law school to work as a Catholic missionary and teacher in Honduras.
According to his biography, Kaine observed poverty up close in Central America and saw what it can do to the human spirit. His time there is said to have helped form his support for citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the United States — a stance likely to attract Latino voters.
Ben Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota, said Clinton "has chosen a running mate that has a track record of advocating and fighting for the issues that affect the Latino community and our nation: immigration, health care, women's rights and the environment."
Kaine's vice presidential candidacy may disappoint some progressive Democrats who had hoped that Senator Bernie Sanders' leftist policy proposals, which attracted wide support during the primary election campaign, might prompt Clinton to choose a vice presidential candidate known more widely as a liberal.
When he was mayor of Richmond, Virginia's capital, Kaine supported a program called Project Exile, which tried to reduce violence by making illegal weapons possession a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison. Some activists who feel that now-defunct program's methods were excessive have said the senator's record could cost him some support from African-American voters.
Nicole Lee, a civil rights lawyer, said, "These measures were not used against white kids in the suburbs with guns. They were used against black kids in the cities."
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