MSNBC "Morning Joe" Interview with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine

Interview

MSNBC "Morning Joe" Interview with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine

MS. BRZEZINSKI: All right. Here with us now, national co- chairman of the Obama campaign, Democratic Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.

Governor Kaine, thanks for joining us.

GOV. KAINE: Yeah. It's so good to be with you guys today.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: All right. So let's talk about Virginia. Virginia hasn't carried a Democrat since 1964. How does it look right now for Barack Obama?

GOV. KAINE: It looks good. There are three things that are strong for Barack right now, but we tell everybody, since we haven't done it for 44 years, we've got to consider ourselves the underdog till we get to the finish line.

But the polling is strong. There's a Washington Post poll out this morning that has Senator Obama up by eight, and there's been a consistency in the polling that has him ahead. The margins differ, but since early October, he's been ahead.

Second, organizationally, whether it's volunteers, offices, voter registration, the amount of advertising that's on the air, Senator Obama has been very strong, including his visits. And he's going to be back in Virginia for two visits tomorrow. He was just here Friday.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: So --

GOV. KAINE: And then finally -- and so he's paying a lot of attention.

But finally, I think there's an energy and enthusiasm edge that we have right now that is very strong. People are very excited. But we've got to convert that to making things happen on Election Day.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Yeah. I mean, one thing that --

GOV. KAINE: So we're not leaving anything --

MS. BRZEZINSKI: One thing that could help certainly lean things in Obama's direction is the economy. I was talking earlier about Prince William County where, just in that area alone, the cost of a house has gone down 41 percent and there are 800 foreclosures a month.

GOV. KAINE: Right.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: People are definitely scared. It definitively could help your candidate, given the fact that John McCain appears to be weak on the economy.

But there are other problems happening on the ground in Virginia as well, including this Washington Post report accusing you of stacking the registration rolls with felons and raising concerns that country registrars were not allowing some members of the military who are serving overseas to vote.

Is there a problem on the ground in Virginia, and perhaps something curious going on with the voting process?

GOV. KAINE: Oh, no, not at all. We've got a great history in Virginia of clean elections.

Just as an example, in 2004, it was a huge turnout, but we ran the election very cleanly and smoothly, and we've significantly increased voting machines and poll workers since that time.

The issue -- Republicans are trying to desperately claim that I've restored rights of 2,000 people in three years. They've been aware of the process and have never complained until the last week.

Compare that to what McCain co-chairman Charlie Crist has done in Florida -- 130 (thousand) or 140,000 felons' rights restored. It's a non-issue.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: All right.

GOV. KAINE: And then with respect to this veterans' question, there has been an issue about some veterans sending in overseas ballots without the address listed of the witness that has to authorize it. We had one local registrar refuse to accept it.

But my state board of elections is meeting with the attorney general and we believe we're going to be able to give that registrar appropriate advice about the way they can count those ballots. That's our goal.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Okay, Governor.

Willie, go ahead.

MR. GEIST: Governor Kaine, Willie Geist here. Mika pointed out it's been --

GOV. KAINE: Hey, Willie.

MR. GEIST: Good to see you this morning -- since 1964 since your state has voted for a Democrat. But there have been other change elections since then. So what's the difference?

Either -- is it something about Barack Obama; is it something about the circumstances? What is it about this place and time?

GOV. KAINE: Willie, I think three things are going on in Virginia that are moving this race Obama's way, and the first is his strength as a candidate.

He is a very, very strong candidate and he's visited Virginia so much compared to Senator McCain. That's been extremely helpful.

The second is Virginians have had two Democratic governors in a row and they've liked what we've done. We've been named the best- managed state in America in 2005 and 2008; best state for business in the United States the last three years by Forbes Magazine, and they look at what Virginia has done under Democratic leadership and compared with what they see at the White House level, and Virginians like what they're seeing from Democrats.

Finally, there are some demographic changes. We have a lot of people moving to Virginia, people moving from all over the United States, and that's kind of changing the political dynamic here and making -- it's becoming a much more independent electorate, I guess, is what I would say.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Governor? Jay Carney has a question.

Jay, go ahead.

GOV. KAINE: Hey, Jay.

(Pause to correct microphone problem.)

MR. CARNEY: (Off mike) -- what the McCain campaign would call the real Virginia -- (chuckles) -- down in the Tidewater area.

GOV. KAINE: Yeah. (Chuckles.)

MR. CARNEY: What are they talking about? I mean, there is a real difference between that part of Virginia and Southwestern Virginia and Northern Virginia --

GOV. KAINE: Well, when Nancy Pfotenhauer made that comment and said that Northern Virginia wasn't the real Virginia, it made me think well, wait a minute, this the part of Virginia with the Pentagon; this is the place in Virginia where John McCain lives and where he has his national headquarters. So Virginians don't like that kind of attitude, or trying to divide the state.

But certainly in Hampton Roads -- the economy is the issue everywhere, wanting a new direction on the economy that puts middle class and small business success first.

And then we are a military state. One in 10 Virginians is a veteran. A lot of active duty and others. We want people who will change the direction of national security.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: All right. Governor Tim Kaine. Thanks so much for coming on the show this morning. Nice to see you, sir.

GOV. KAINE: Thanks, Mika.

END.

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