If ever there was a question the race for the White House was all about Ohio, the Labor Day parade of jumbo jets at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport removed all doubt. Aircraft carrying both presidential nominees and the media carrying them sharing space on the tarmac.
In an exclusive interview with newsnet5.com, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine said "Ohio is always going to be right at the top in terms of must wins and places where always both sides feel like they can win."
"Republicans feel like this is our territory and Democrats we've shown a good ability to win races with Ohio especially in '08 and '12," he said.
The early September kick off of the final stretch made even more crucial by the beginning of early voting in Ohio on October 12 which Kaine believes is an advantage for Democrats.
"It really puts a premium on organization and this is something that as Democrats we feel really good about," he said pointing to the more than three dozen offices they have operation in Ohio. "They're doing that work everyday to contact the voters and so once early voting starts we can really work to make sure that we maximize our performance."
Kaine is not surprised the polls show the race tight in Ohio. "We are a politically divided nation and no state sort of shows that more than Ohio in a lot of ways so we've always assumed it would be close and we've always assumed that we have to make our case every day."
He recalled what he told Clinton in April of 2014 when he encouraged her to run. "I said I don't care what a poll says you're the underdog until you're the winner just because of a whole series of dynamics including you're trying to do something that's never been done before."
On the release Friday of new information from the FBI investigation of the Clinton email scandal Kaine reiterated that yes Clinton had 13 devices but she was only using one at a time.
"Over time when one would wear out then she would get a new one but she was only using one at a time," Kaine said.
"The thing that was interesting I think about the FBI report that came out was first it came out because Hillary said release this to the public, she was calling for its disclosure and second when you read the report it really goes through in pretty elaborate detail why they chose not to take any legal action, why they decided there was nothing more to do. Compare that degree of disclosure to what we're seeing on the Trump side not putting out his tax returns," Kaine said.
When asked if the Clinton Foundation should stop immediately taking contributions from foreign and corporate donors, Kaine said they are.
"She's taking one step forward right now, the foundation is taking one step forward right now, by saying there's no corporations, no foreign-connected contributions, we're not taking them right now and then if we are successful and are elected, President Clinton will sever the tie with the foundation that he created."
