‘This is my ninth race, and I haven’t lost one’: Tim Kaine killed it at CMU
‘I am the underdog until they call me the winner’
Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Kaine spoke at the Margaret Morrison rotunda in support of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic campaign. For the majority of the time, he emphasized the difference in vision between him and Clinton, and Trump and Pence.
He first thanked CMU for hosting, saying, “My grades wouldn’t have gotten me here. I had to become the Vice Presidential Candidate to get to come to Carnegie Mellon,” earning a few laughs from the crowd.
Most of the students came to hear what Kaine had to say, and show support for Clinton, despite not knowing much about Kaine himself. Senior Sarah Moss-Horwitz said, “I don’t know enough about him to be super excited, but he seems like a cool, interesting guy and I’m excited to hear him speak.” First year grad-student Zach Marino said, “[Kaine] wasn’t my first choice, but the more I hear him talk, the more I like him.”
Soon after Kaine began speaking, a woman kept talking over him, yelling from the back, “Please do your research. Please. Don’t vote for this.” After a minute, she was escorted away by the police and the rest of the event went smoothly, with Kaine carrying on unfazed.
Kaine brought attention to the difference between Trump’s book Crippled America and Clinton’s book Stronger Together. He said, “I don’t see crippled America. When I look at CMU’s research technology, I don’t see crippled America. I’ve been using these books as props for a while now. I just found out this morning that Trump changed the title of his book to Great Again. You can change the title of your book, Donald Trump, but you can’t change who you are.”
Kaine holding up Trump’s book for the crowd to see
With Pennsylvania as a swing state, Kaine emphasized the importance of voting, reminding the crowd that anything could happen. He gave students the same advice he gave Clinton. “Tell yourself, ‘I am the underdog until they call me the winner.’ Have people told you that it’s not your time? That you can’t do something? Clinton has been facing that her whole life.”
He ended by saying, “This is my ninth race, and I haven’t lost one. I’m 8 and 0, and I’m gonna be 9 and 0.”