Today in Orlando, Kaine Recaps Clinton’s Debate Win, Energizes Volunteers on National Voter Registration Day

From the Clinton campaign:

Today in Orlando, Kaine Recaps Clinton’s Debate Win, Energizes Volunteers on National Voter Registration Day

Today, in honor of National Voter Registration Day, vice presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine made a visit to the Hillary for America campaign field office in Orlando, Florida to speak to volunteers and staff about the importance of registering voters.
Kaine highlighted the stark contrast voters saw in last night’s debate — between Hillary Clinton, someone who has the experience and judgement to serve as commander-in-chief, and Donald Trump, who showed us just how dangerously unqualified he is to do the job.

That’s why, Kaine said, it is more important than ever to register and connect with as many voters as possible about what’s at stake in this election. “I don’t have to tell you how important Florida is. Florida’s election is going to be very, very close,” Kaine said. “But close elections mean the person-to-person really matters […] Your phone call might be the call, your knocking on the door, that might be the interaction that, added up across by precinct across the state, could produce a victory in electoral votes for Hillary Clinton.”

Kaine’s remarks as transcribed are below:

“It is great to be here. Criss, give her a round of applause. How about your state senator and your next congressman Darren Soto? I’m very, very excited to be with all of you. Wasn’t last night great? I don’t want to talk for long cause I’m about ready to head out of town after a couple days in Florida, although I will be back. This is my fifth trip to Florida since I was on the ticket and you’re going to see Hillary and I back a lot because you guys are important. Let me just talk a little about that debate last night. Hillary showed she’s prepared to be president and she’s prepared to be commander-in-chief. She offered the details of her plans. She gave us the ‘stronger together’ vision. She answered the questions that had to be answered and she told the truth. On the other side, you have a guy who is – well look, if you are that rattled in a debate try being president, try being president.

He didn’t give details about anything. He didn’t answer questions that needed to be answered, about his taxes for example. Except opined that he was smart for not paying taxes, for not supporting our vets, for not supporting the military, for not supporting our teachers. Didn’t answer the question about this birth certificate, President Obama’s citizenship lie that he perpetrated for five years. Didn’t apologize for […] answer for it. But what he really showed was just how rattled he was. Especially at the end when he was challenged about comments that he made about Hillary’s appearance.

He tried to say that it wasn’t about appearance, that it was about her stamina. And Hillary just said,‘Look, you go to 120 countries. And you do an 11-hour congressional hearing, and then come talk to me about stamina.’ When Hillary said that, she looked like she was ready for about 11 more hours of debate. But Donald Trump in the split screen was leaning up against the ropes like a boxer who was about to go down for a TKO. Hillary showed that she was ready for the debate and she’s ready to be president, and Donald Trump showed that he was running out of gas before the debate was one third through. She did a magnificent job, and I think she shows what this next six weeks is going to be like. Aren’t we proud of Hillary Clinton?

[…] and I’m so proud to be on the ticket with her. Anybody who puts families and kids at the center of their life from the time they’re a teenager to today has got my heart. Because I have battled, as Chris said, as a civil rights lawyer and an elected official for folks in my community, and I’m married to a superb public servant, my wife Anne: legal aid lawyer, juvenile court judge, foster care reformer, secretary of education in Virginia. She’s been […] fighting for families and kids too. […] those are our Democratic values. We are fighting for everybody, and that focus on families and children is something that’s so special about Hillary. Nobody has come into the office of the president, nobody, who built up an entire life’s career focusing on, ‘How can we help families and kids be successful?’ She’s going to make history as the first woman president of the United States. But she’s also going to make history as somebody who measures the success of society by how families and kids are doing.

So I was really, really happy last night. We had a wonderful couple of days in Miami, and then over in the Tampa area and […]. And it was really, really good to see her do so well. And that puts pressure on me. I’ve got to debate a week from today. I reached out to her right after and said, ‘Man, you really raised the bar. You put the kind of pressure on me that I like to really up my game for next Tuesday.’ So anyway, that was exciting.

The other reason we’re here: today’s National Registration Day. And I know that you’re here because virtually all of you have been doing a ton of organizing, a ton of volunteering, We’re putting the word out all across the country because, as of today, September 27, you can still register to vote in every state. Now different states have different rules, and so the windows to register start closing. Here in Florida you can start registering up till the 11th of October. In some states you can register all the way up till Election Day, but as of today, you can register anywhere. So we are asking everybody to register. And, you to encourage folks to. Iwillvote.com or […]. You can go there, punch in where you live, and you can get the particulars on how to register. There are still an awful lot of people who can vote but are not registered. And that is what we are asking you to do. The date is October 11 here in Florida. Really, really important to do it. We see all across the country Republican governors and legislatures trying to make it harder to vote–trying to put up barriers and obstacles. So if you talk to anybody and you say, ‘Well I am not sure my vote matters,’ well, it sure matters to the other side. Why would they be trying so hard to make it harder for you or stop you from voting if your vote didn’t matter? It matters to them – it should matter to you, at least as much as it matters to somebody else. Karen and I were also talking about what is at stake and I have tried to whittle down […] like 45 seconds if you talk to people and you want to know the difference between the candidates. Just do this. And you can time me– Do you believe in climate change or don’t you and if you do we are with you and the other guy is against you. Do you believe in LGBT equality? If you do, we are with you and the other guys is against you. Do you think women should make their own health care decisions or not? If you do, we are with you and the other guy is against you. If you plan to make college more affordable– if you do we are with you and the other guys is against you. If you are for raising minimum wage, if you do we are with you and the other guy is against you. How about equal pay for women? We are with you and the other guy is against you. Do you believe in immigration reform? If you do we are with you and the other guy is against you. About 45 seconds? Pretty clear differences.

But I think you are armed with the information that you need so the last thing I will tell you, well the last two things that I tell will you –is this. I don’t have to tell you how important Florida is. Florida’s election is going to be very, very close — very, very close. You guys should change your name from the ‘Sunshine State’ to the ‘Close State.’ ‘The Close State’ because in every election, it’s close — but close elections mean the person to person really matters. Elections here statewide get decided by — it can be a handful of votes, a person, two, three, four, five — we all remember 2000, but there’s a lot of close races here, and your phone call might be the call. You knocking on the door, that might be, that might be the interaction that added up by precinct across the state could produce a victory in electoral votes for Hillary Clinton. I so deeply believe this, I see a lot of folks from the SEIU here; you guys are specialists at the person-to-person thing.

And I think one thing that our labor friends know is this: after Citizens United where we can just pour money onto the TV screen, a lot of people, their whole attitude about ads is: ‘I’m just not so sure. Who’s behind that? I don’t believe it.’ But they do believe a word from someone they can trust — so that’s a friend or a parishioner or a neighbor or a co-worker or somebody you’re in class with — but what I’ve always found, running eight races before this one is they’ll even believe a word from someone they trust that they don’t know, mainly a volunteer. Because if you knock on a door, make a call and say, ‘Hey, I’m volunteering with the Clinton’s campaign.’ The first thing they hear is ‘volunteer’ — they didn’t have to do it; […] support, they’re taking time to volunteer. And then that opens up a door to have a conversation to talk about issues that matter, to answer questions because people have questions — they want information from somebody they can trust. And they don’t trust the TV ads so that means they will trust you.

So I just am here to thank you for what you are doing, I’m so honored to be on this ticket with a great fellow public servant, Hillary Clinton, and we have so much to do to build an economy that works for everybody, to be safe in the right way — and not the wrong way. Safe by building relationships between our communities and the police at home and building alliances abroad, not tearing up alliances and putting more distance between our […]. No, we can be safe the right way, not the wrong way. And then finally, we have to build a community of respect. Chris talked a little bit about that, where we value everybody and we have everybody at the table and we push back against those who divide us or separate us. So there’s a lot at stake in this election, but it’s really fantastic to be here. It’s really great to be here with Darren, who’s going to be an exciting next addition to the U.S. Congress. It’s hard up there, but I tell you, it’s some heavy lifting in the House of Representatives right now, but this guy will be a wonderful ally for the priorities that you all care about, and we all care about. Look forward to coming back to Orlando in the homestretch; you’re going to see a lot of us here — very, very important epicenter for the success we are going to have in Florida, and your volunteer efforts are going to make it happen. I’ve been telling people I’m ‘eight and oh,’ and I’m going to be ‘nine and oh’ November 8th. I’m not taking second best in this one; we’ve got to win this one. And I have the confidence that we will win because of your great energy. Y gracias por su apoyo a todo. Vamos a ganar. Hasta la victoria y adelante, no atrás. […] Vamos a ganar. Mil gracias. Buenos días a todos.”