[1]Gov. Tim Kaine
WASHINGTON — Remember 2005, after Democrats got waxed a second straight time in national elections? They held hands in confabs across the land and swore to start speaking in public about religion and their deepest beliefs.
No rising star did it better than Tim Kaine, the Kansas City native (and Mizzou grad) who was elected governor of Virginia that year amid the Democratic wreckage.
Kaine, once a Catholic missionary in Central America, talks freely about faith and carries the credentials to open doors at evangelical gatherings.
He is doing double duty now both as governor and Democratic national chairman, and it was noteworthy today that he split with Harvard pal Obama on a matter that has divided Democrats before.
Kaine signed legislation in his state banning the use of state funds for embryonic stem cell research. He approved the prohibition just three weeks after Obama got out his pen to sign an executive order reversing George W. Bush’s ban on federal funds for stem cell research.
Kaine enacted the law the same day he approved legislation permiting “Choose Life” license tags in the Virginia. You may not see him at the spring get-togethers of the abortion-rights groups.
Kaine’s view toward stem cells would seem to contradict the most recent Democrati Party platform which vows to change course.
It reads: “President Bush has rejected the calls from Nancy Reagan, Christopher Reeve and Americans across the land for assistance with embryonic stem cell research. We will reverse his wrongheaded policy. Stem cell therapy offers hope to more than 100 million Americans …”
A spokeswoman for Kaine told CNN that Kaine’s decision was “in keeping with his faith and his personal beliefs.”
(Join me Wednesday at 11 am St. Louis time for the April Fool’s edition of my STLtoday DCDownload chat to talk about Congress, the Obama budget, the auto industry and anything DC — including the Japanese-imported cherry blossoms that have just burst open. Beat the rush; post comments or questions here early. Now!) [2]