Hillary Clinton Makes Sunshine State Swing
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) -- Now that the Republican National Convention has wrapped, and Donald Trump has received the party's nomination, the attention shifts this weekend to presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Clinton opens a two-day campaign swing Friday in Florida and is expected to announce her running mate either at a Friday afternoon rally at the state fairgrounds in Tampa or on Saturday at Florida International University in Miami.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, 58, appears to be the leading contender, according to two Democrats, who both cautioned that Clinton has not made a decision and could change direction.
Kaine has been active in the Senate on foreign relations and military affairs and built a reputation for working with both parties as Virginia's governor and mayor of Richmond.
"I'm glad the waiting game is nearly over," Kaine said Thursday .
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a longtime friend of Hillary and Bill Clinton, is still in the mix, according to one of the two Democrats. Both Democrats are familiar with the selection process and spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Kaine's selection would not be without complication. Liberals have expressed wariness of Kaine for his support of putting the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement on a "fast track" to approval, which both Clinton and primary rival Bernie Sanders oppose. They also note that Kaine recently signed onto a letter asking for less burdensome regulation of regional banks.
But President Barack Obama has told the campaign he believes Kaine would be a strong choice, according to a Democrat familiar with the search who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The Democratic convention in Philadelphia, which starts Monday, is expected to be more disciplined than the GOP convention. Clinton is, if anything, disciplined.
Thursday evening Trump wrapped the GOP's four day affair with a fiery speech intended to unify the party and rally voters.
Speaking to "the forgotten men and women of our country," the people who "work hard but no longer have a voice," he declared: "I am your voice." With that, he summed up both the paradox and the power of his campaign — a billionaire who made common cause with struggling Americans alienated from the system, or at least a portion of them.
He pledged as president to restore a sense of public safety, strictly curb immigration and save the nation from Clinton's record of "death, destruction, terrorism and weakness."
"I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves," Trump said.
Ever the showman, he fed off the energy of the crowd, stepping back to soak in applause and joining the delegates as they chanted, "U-S-A."
It was an altogether smoother — and scripted — chapter in a footloose convention shocked a night earlier by Ted Cruz's prime-time speech, a pointed non-endorsement of the nominee by the Texas senator who finished second in the race and came to Cleveland harboring grievances — and future presidential ambitions.
During their convention, Republicans were relentless and often raw in demonizing Clinton. As fired-up supporters at Trump's acceptance speech broke out in their oft-used refrain of "Lock her up," the nominee waved them off, and instead declared, "Let's defeat her in November." Yet he also accused her of "terrible, terrible crimes."
Trump's more than hour-long speech was strikingly dark for a celebratory event and almost entirely lacking in policy details. Trump shouted throughout as he read off a teleprompter, showing few flashes of humor or even a smile.
"This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness," he said. "But Hillary Clinton's legacy does not have to be America's legacy."
In a direct appeal to Americans shaken by a summer of violence at home and around the world, Trump promised that if he takes office in January, "safety will be restored."
He also said young people in predominantly black cities "have as much of a right to live out their dreams as any other child in America." And he vowed to protect gays and lesbians from violence and oppression, a pledge that was greeted with applause from the crowd.
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