Inside Hillary Clinton’s veep selection process — and why she may choose Tim Kaine

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Now a closer look at the Democratic ticket and the strategy behind Hillary Clinton's potential coming vice presidential pick.

We turn to longtime Democratic consultant Hilary Rosen, who joins us from Philadelphia, the site of next week's convention.

Hilary, Hilary Rosen, welcome.

So, what are your sources and what do your instincts tell you?

HILARY ROSEN, Democratic Consultant:

Well, my instinct tell me that Democrats are ready for this convention. There is a big contrast that we're excited to have between the sort of hostile and pessimistic show that the Republicans put on this past week in Cleveland and the optimism that Democrats are going to feel this week.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

And for all the speculation right now, and there's been a lot of it, so much of it seems to be directed at Virginia Governor — or Senator, I should say, former Governor and now Senator Tim Kaine. What do you think about that? What would be the calculation in a Tim Kaine choice?

HILARY ROSEN:

Tim Kaine's been governor. He's been a senator, as you just said. He's been a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. He knows a lot about domestic policy. He's a fluent Spanish speaker.

He would be an excellent pick for Hillary Clinton. He checks a lot of boxes. Virginia's a battleground state. One thing that's interesting about this V.P. selection over the last 10 days, I have noticed with Democrats contrasting with the Republicans, is, Democrats are not very sort of hostile or energetic around which one of these top-tier candidates Hillary Clinton picks.

I think there is a lot of enthusiasm for her and, frankly, people are giving her leeway to pick the V.P. that she wants to govern with.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Well, what would be — say, if it were — and, again, we're speculating now — we don't know — but if it were a Tim Kaine, what would the pluses be for her and what would the liabilities be?

HILARY ROSEN:

So, he's, you know, a white guy, a little boring. You know, we have talked about Latinos. We have talked about other women. We have talked about African-Americans.

There's a lot of enthusiasm around having a person of color on the ticket or another woman. You know, so that's the downside, is that maybe people say, well, is she playing it safe?

On the other hand, I think that you get in Tim Kaine a really thoughtful policy leader and somebody who she gets enthusiastic about. So much of this has to be about how Hillary Clinton feels every day when she wakes up and has a partner in governing. And so I think that Democrats are going to give her kind of the benefit of the doubt there.

And if you're Hillary Clinton, you want someone you know and feel comfortable with and feel aligned with.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Hilary Rosen, it's been pointed out that she has known Tom Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa, now the secretary of agriculture, even longer, has a closer relationship — as we say, known him longer, closer relationship with him. Why wouldn't a Tom Vilsack make sense?

HILARY ROSEN:

You know, this is — I haven't talked to Secretary Clinton about this.

My view is that maybe he's a little old, that he doesn't bring the kind of diverse constituency that a Tim Kaine brings with his experience in the Latino community. And Iowa is a smaller state. It is a battleground state, but it has fewer electoral votes than Virginia does. So, if you're going to go for balance, if you're going for the middle of the country, shoot at a bigger state.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Hilary Rosen, we talk a lot about whether the vice presidential pick makes a difference. How do you see that in this election year running against Donald Trump?

HILARY ROSEN:

You know, I think that sort of the polls always say that people vote for the president, not the vice president.

But there is something about the vice presidential pick in every presidential campaign, because it's kind of the first important decision that these nominees make. And so what goes into that decision, how they talk about, how they justify it, the kinds of character that they're looking for, that does matter.

The fact that Trump picked Mike Pence, for someone like me, he's way too conservative. He only appeals to a limited base. On the other hand, it was a solid, safe pick for Donald Trump. So, that says something about him, that he was serious, he wasn't going to play games.

I think, with Hillary Clinton, people are looking for, you know, will she govern from — with solid progressive values, but try and appeal to the middle of the country? Will she go to independents? Can she even get moderate Republicans, or is she just trying to make a statement pick?

And I think that Tim Kaine offers a little bit of both for Hillary Clinton. So, I think, again, it's not going to make people vote for her or not vote for her, but it is going to say something about what she's looking for in character.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

It will tell us a little bit more once we know what it is, and everybody is waiting.

Hilary Rosen in Philadelphia, thanks very much.

HILARY ROSEN:

Take care.