Gov. Tim Kaine to Head DNC

A personal friend of Barack Obama’s who helped deliver Old Dominion to the Democrats for the first time in nearly half a century, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine will chair the Democratic National Committee, sources told The Washington Post. As DNC leader, Kaine will be the Obama administration’s top political messenger. A “gregarious chief executive who is known to relish political combat,” he’s a true party loyalist who worked methodically in Virginia to get Democrats elected at the state level. During the campaign, he was reportedly on Obama’s shortlist of potential running mates until he effectively took himself off it by saying he intended to finish his term as governor. That assertion will surely come back to haunt him in the form of criticism from Republicans, now that he’s accepted a job at the national level. Kaine will work for the DNC part-time from Richmond until his term ends in 2010, when he will become the full-time chairman.