Nice article on Gov. Kaine in the Times-Dispatch yesterday

[underpants]

Kaine puts mileage on leadership
The governor meets and greets across Va., talking of policy, life and the future
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/politics.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-03-16-0234.html

Kaine will say later that he will not leave the governor's office early for a seat in an Obama Cabinet. While he's convinced he will not be asked to be Obama's running mate, he says the offer would be difficult to refuse.

"I'm not going to leave before the end of the term," in January 2010, Kaine said, when asked about a possible role in an Obama Cabinet.


These days, Kaine has been barnstorming in Virginia, holding town-hall meetings around the state on the accomplishments and unfinished business on his legislative agenda in the 2008 General Assembly session.


"The family members who are here and friends and the elected officials of the state and from this area have a mixture of feelings," Kaine tells the packed auditorium on this day of separation, where the speeches are punctuated by cheers and the cries of young children.

"Feelings of hope, feelings of concern," he adds. "But our overwhelming feeling is a feeling of pride."

Outside the school, Kaine explains that roughly one-sixth of Virginia's Guard are deployed overseas and in Iraq -- about 1,500 people.

"Some of the folks going today, it's their third time since 2001," Kaine says. "It's very challenging for the families."

Education, not transportation, is most important to the 275 people who show up at the Appomattox Regional Governor's School for the town-hall meeting. Kaine appears to be embraced by the crowd, although some express concerns, ranging from impact of school funding to limits on payday lending.

"What I've learned at many points during my career in public life is that people aren't necessarily looking for somebody who they just agree with on everything," he says later.

"They want somebody who they think has ideas and a moral compass and is accessible and approachable," he adds. "People respect honestly expressed disagreement better than dishonestly expressed agreement."


Observers have speculated that Kaine could end up running one of the state's universities -- Eugene P. Trani, president of Virginia Commonwealth University, retires in 2010 -- or filling a similar job in the public sector.

"What I liked about being mayor, what I like about being governor, is the community-building aspect of the job," Kaine says. "So doing something that is like that, whether it's in education or the nonprofit world, is probably the most likely thing that I would do next. And it's highly likely that I would do that in Richmond."