Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The talk around the water coolers these days concerns who Barack Obama and John McCain will pick as their running mates. Leading pundits say Virginia governor Tim Kaine is high on Obama's list and some say he can help Obama overcome his extreme pro-abortion views.

A Tuesday Washington Post report indicates Kaine has had "very serious" conversations with Obama about joining the Democratic ticket and "ranks very, very high on the short list" according to sources close to the process.

Kaine virtues include the fact that he's not a Beltway politician and won a gubernatorial race in a state where Republicans have dominated the presidential landscape recently.

Some observers have suggested that Kaine is pro-life on abortion and could take away votes from Senator McCain, who strongly opposes abortion. But that's just not the case.

Kaine claims a personal, religious opposition to abortion, but nonetheless supports legal abortions. That's not different from Democrats in presidential elections past like Mario Cuomo -- who made famous the "personally opposed but" statement that has rankled pro-life advocates.

Kaine told the Washington Post, during his 2001 campaign for Lt. Governor, that he "opposes efforts to restrict abortions" and that he "opposes efforts to require a parent's consent before a minor gets an abortion."

Then, facing more intense scrutiny in his 2005 gubernatorial bid, Kaine changed positions and said he favors abortion limits.

However, his flip-flop didn't catch leading pro-life advocates off guard.

"When Timothy Kaine was running for Lt. Governor, he supported abortion," former National Right to Life political director Carol Tobias told LifeNews.com in 2005. "Four years later, after seeing pro-abortion Democrats continue to lose election after election, Mr. Kaine now sings a different tune."

Tobias says she doesn't believe Kaine's supposed change of position is real.

Kaine only became Virginia's governor because pro-abortion state Sen. Russell Potts, a Republican running because he disagreed with pro-life Republican nominee Jerry Kilgore on abortion, siphoned off enough votes to let him win.

Kilgore also noticed Kaine's true pro-abortion colors and called his attempt to moderate his pro-abortion stance disingenuous.

"It is a classic example of Tim Kaine recognizing the audience and delivering the message that the audience wants to hear," Tim Murtaugh, Kilgore's press secretary said [in 2005].

"One the one hand he [runs] . . . down his supposed list of pro-life credentials and on the other he gathers with liberal Democrats at a fundraiser and uses all code words of the pro-abortion crowd," Murtaugh said.

Recognizing Kaine as the more pro-abortion of the candidates in the race, the directorof NARAL's Virginia affiliate said, "Between these two men, we see more hope ... in Kaine's candidacy, and we are eager and willing to work with him on these important issues should he be elected."

 

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