NBC "Today" - Transcript

Interview

MR. LAUER: Thank you. Good to be here. Some people at home, Governor Kaine, might be saying, "Wait a second. This state has voted Republican for all these years. It hasn't been since Lyndon Johnson in '64 that it's gone for a Democrat. So why are they even calling this a battleground state?"

What's happened here, though? What do they need to know about what's gone on here in the last couple of years?

GOV. KAINE: Absolutely. Four polls in the last two days have this race as a dead heat. We haven't gone Democratic since 1964, but I think three things are happening: First, some demographic changes. People are moving to Virginia because of a good quality of life, and that's changing the electorate.

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MR. LAUER: So when the voters in this state -- which, by the way, you've got about 20 percent African-American voters here -- when they go to the polls, all the voters here, how is race going to play in this election?

GOV. KAINE: I don't think it's going to be much of a factor. Again, Virginia led the nation, first state in the country to elect an African-American governor. And again, it was just four years ago John Kerry lost Virginia by nine or 10 points. We've got this race as a dead heat in 2008.

Senator Obama did very, very well here in the primary, because, again, Americans look at this message of change. They don't like the direction, what they're seeing in their newspapers every day about how the economy has been managed, and they want some better management in Washington.

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MR. ALLEN: Let me say this. I agree with Governor Kaine on the race aspect. I think what Virginians are going to look at is, for example, Senator Biden saying, "No new -- no coal plants in America." Well, that's a big impact on jobs in southwest Virginia as well as our ports.

We're also in Virginia for the last five years trying to get out from under the federal moratorium so that we can explore for natural gas off our coast. John McCain's been taking the lead on that. On both of those issues, Senator Obama is on the wrong side for energy security. And we have a big military presence in Virginia.

MR. LAUER: Norfolk just down the road.

MR. ALLEN: You're going to get a big turnout this year --

GOV. KAINE: Well, I've got to cut in now.

MR. ALLEN: -- for commander in chief.

MR. LAUER: Ten seconds; then I've got to go.

GOV. KAINE: Absolutely. We've got to change the direction of the economy. The John McCain strategy of deregulating everything -- savings and loans, banking and now health care -- has been a huge failure. Americans know it and Virginians know it. We've got to grow the economy by investing in people.

Second, Virginians don't like the direction of the economy or our national security policy in Washington. They want change. They want better. And they look at Virginia, two Democratic governors in a row, best-managed state in America, best state for business in the United States. Education Week says best state for a child to be raised. And I think they like what they see with Democratic leadership here and they say, "You know, let's do it at the national level."

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