Those close to Hillary Clinton insist she chose Tim Kaine as her running mate because she knows she can work with him, because he’s safe and solid, because he was the obvious choice.It doesn’t hurt that he also offers her a prime opportunity to contrast with Donald Trump — over and over and over.

“Sen. Tim Kaine is everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not,” Clinton said to the rapturous applause of over 5,000 Miamians at Florida International University, the first of many favorable comparisons she drew between Kaine and the GOP ticket. “While he was taking on housing discrimination and homelessness, Donald Trump was denying apartments.”

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Instead, he’s the anti-Trump, in place not to fire up anyone, but to provide reassurance. After all, if Clinton wins Virginia, Trump’s path to the White House is exceedingly narrow. If she wins Florida, where Kaine is being rolled out, it's next to impossible for Trump. And that's without even North Carolina, Kaine's next-door neighbor.

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In the face of such progressive skepticism, Kaine talked up his fights against the NRA, called for debt-free college and said the ticket will pass comprehensive immigration reform after “tres años” of waiting for the House to do something.