RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Soon after Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine accepted Hillary Clinton’s offer to be her running mate, he called Terry McAuliffe to say thanks.
Kaine had good reason to be grateful: it’s likely that no one lobbied as hard for Kaine to get the job as the colorful former fundraiser and Clinton pal turned Virginia governor.
And with one friend at the top of the ticket and another as her running mate, McAuliffe could find himself with two direct lines to the White House should the Clinton-Kaine ticket win on Election Day.
McAuliffe led the effort to raise money for Bill Clinton’s re-election bid, vacationed with the couple after the Monica Lewinsky scandal and secured a $1.35 million mortgage on their house in Chappaqua, New York, after they left the White House swamped by legal debts. He traveled the world with Bill Clinton as a board member for the Clinton Global Initiative, his post-presidential foundation, and he also helped manage Hillary Clinton’s 2008 run for president.
“I’ve known Hillary and her husband Bill for more than half my life,” he said in a speech to the Democratic convention Tuesday night, delivered just after she officially became their party’s nominee. “I love this woman.”