PHILADELPHIA – Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate paid a surprise visit to Florida delegates on Wednesday to emphasize how “critical” the state will be in deciding the next president.
“It wasn’t an accident that the rollout of the ticket was in Florida,” Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine told a half-filled room at an early morning breakfast. Kaine and Clinton made their first debut as the Democratic presidential ticket at a Miami rally over the weekend.
“We started there on Saturday because we know how critical Florida is going to be this cycle,” he said. “And I have a feeling that I’m going to be coming soon to a theater near you.”
Kaine, seeking to excite the crowd, said he intends to maintain his perfect record of winning every election he’s ever competed in, dating back to his first city council race.
“I don’t lose and we are not going to lose,” he told the delegates.
Clinton is running neck-and-neck against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the Sunshine State, where GOP voters overwhelmingly backed the billionaire businessman in their primary. A recent FiveThirtyEight analysis predicted that Trump has a 65 percent chance of winning Florida’s 29 electoral votes in November.
Kaine will formally accept the vice presidential nomination when the convention gavels in Wednesday evening. He joins President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on the list of speakers addressing the Democratic delegation this evening.
