I just finished participating in the Tim Kaine conference call with bloggers. Kaine sounded relaxed and very comfortable with both his positions and the issues. He promised there would be more conference calls with bloggers down the road, calling blogs “Jeffersonian, “a big part of the dialog,” and the “21st century spin on what the First Amendment means.” All in all, it was an impressive performance, especially considering that facing bloggers is uncharted territory for most candidates.
Kaine began by summarizing his campaign as being in “good shape” with polls and fundraising. “I’m feeling good about the state of the race,” he said, as well as “we’re working our tails off.”
He tackled questions on rail in Charlottesville, where he emphasized the Baconian principle of tying transportation to land use; the environment, where he said there was “no substitute for investing”; education, where he called the lack of “meaningful and comprehensive teacher evaluations” to be the “biggest weakness” in Virginia schools; and economic development, where he said he would push hard for his $500 tax credit proposal for small businesses with under 50 employees to buy health insurance.
Kaine made a point of emphasizing fiscal responsibility, noting that he has not proposed a lot of new spending. He verified that he supported the notion of using “If you can find it in the Yellow Pages, maybe government shouldn’t be doing it” as a starting point for evaluating government reorganization. He called blue ribbon commissions frequent “excuses for inaction.”
I’m not sure the bloggers who participated asked tougher questions than might have been posed by “mainstream” reporters. Michael Shear of the Washington Post was in on the call; perhaps he’ll address it on his blog–or even in a news story.
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