Kaine Praises Pittsburgh, Takes On Trump During Visit To CMU
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It wasn't the biggest crowd, but at least 300 supporters warmly greeted Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine to the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Oakland Thursday afternoon.
"It is so good to be here at Carnegie Mellon. My grades wouldn't have got me here," said Kaine.
The job of the vice presidential candidates is to be the attack dog on the opposing party's presidential nominee, but for Kaine – who is often described as the nicest man in the U.S. Senate – it's been a bit of an adjustment.
But with Pennsylvania in the balance, Kaine was in Pittsburgh to tell voters it's his running mate, Hillary Clinton, and not Donald Trump, that has local interest most at heart.
"This is my third time in Pittsburgh since I got on the ticket, less than 100 days ago," Kaine said. "It's 'cause you're important; it's 'cause Pennsylvania's important. It's because you are a key to win, and we're going to win a history-making race."
After his nice words about the CMU, the city of Pittsburgh and the state of Pennsylvania, Kaine launched into an attack on Trump.
Holding books authored by both presidential candidates, "Stronger Together" by Clinton and "Crippled America" by Trump, Kaine panned the Republican candidate's book.
"I don't see 'Crippled America,' when I go into classrooms at colleges like Carnegie Mellon and see innovative research and people doing really cool things, and students with great dreams for their future, I don't see 'Crippled America,'" he said.
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Then, he knocked Trump for sounding tough on trade, but failing to live up to his own words.
"When he builds hotels, he buys the steel and aluminum, not from Pennsylvania, not from other places in the United States, but he buys steel and aluminum from China," Kaine said. "Don't you think Donald Trump, if he believed in America and making America great, he would buy his steel and aluminum right here in Pennsylvania."
Trump will be in town next week for a rally in Ambridge.
