While Kaine's softer demeanor may lack the same "gruffness" of a Sherrod Brown, the Ohio senator who's name is also in Clinton's VP mix, people who have been around Kaine maintain that he can still be very tough if he needs to be. One Democrat who knows Kaine claims "he knows how to rip his opponents' face off with a smile so it doesn't feel gross." Another former colleague notes that "he's a genuinely nice guy but he's not a pushover," pointing to an intense debate with Republican Jerry Kilgore in the 2005 Virginia governor's race.
Kaine's supporters believe he can be especially effective on the stump because he speaks very often without notes or prepared text and frequently writes his own remarks, a contrast to other potential VP picks like Massachusetts Sen. Warren, who has used a teleprompter during most of her major recent speeches.
Those who have known Kaine describe him as at peace with himself, and someone who has managed to try to lead a normal life within the bounds of public office.
Heidi Abbott, a Richmond attorney and longtime supporter, met Kaine about 25 years ago as he was one in a group of people who met informally on her porch to discuss issues important to their community. "I have watched him tackle complex issues at the local, state and now federal levels with integrity, brilliance and an ability to communicate these complexities to the public in a way that makes sense," she said.
...
Since his election to the Senate, Kaine has served on the Foreign Relations Committee and the Armed Services Committee. Plus, supporters add that his tenure as DNC chairman from 2009 to 2011 linked him up with a wide network of donors across the country. Also, allies note that in 2012, an unprecedented sum of money was spent on Kaine's Senate race against Republican George Allen, so he has already withstood a massive barrage of negative ads in the middle of close elections with high stakes.
...
Tom Morris, who served in Kaine's cabinet as secretary of education, says Kaine wouldn't be one to make mistakes on the trail as he's been though enough campaigns and never lost an election. "He's not going to be upstaging the presidential nominee or getting off message," he added. "He knows how to stay on message… and would be a good partisan spokesman for Democrats."
...
Supporters will cite the fact that Kaine speaks fluent Spanish after his time doing missionary work in Honduras, and the fact that he was the first to deliver a full speech in Spanish on the U.S. Senate floor.
Those who worked with Kaine during his years in Richmond, like his fellow city council member and eventual vice mayor, Rudy McCollum, and many other Kaine supporters, stress the time when they say he was able to create bridges with the African American community in the city, in an area that was (and still can be) a southern town plagued with racial strife. In the 1990s, the city council decided among themselves who was mayor.