While Hillary Clinton has remained conspicuously absent on the campaign trail, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine is working tirelessly to pick up the slack.
The Virginia Senator traveled to six different campaign events in New Hampshire yesterday, and did five national television interviews, while Clinton was MIA.
Clinton has only held two public events over the last two weeks, currently absent from the trail until Labor Day to join Kaine for a rally in Cleveland.
After an amped up Donald Trump spent Wednesday traveling to Mexico and Arizona to highlight his immigration policies, Clinton showed up 37 minutes late to a speech at the American Legion before vanishing from sight.
She was nowhere to be seen on Thursday, as the campaign dispatched Kaine to punch back at Trump’s high-energy day on the trail.
The Virginia Senator called Trump’s trip a “photo-op flyby” and a “diplomatic embarrassment,” on a full round of morning talk shows on CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS,
But Kaine was forced to answer for Clinton’s absence, as he was grilled by CBS anchors who demanded answers to why she hadn’t held a press conference in over 270 straight days.
“You see Hillary take questions from reporters every day. She does, she talks to the press everywhere she goes,” Kaine replied, an unfounded claim that sparked anger from reporters that follow her.
Kaine, however, is not as shy of the media, conducting four press gaggles in five weeks and participating in several local press interviews, according to CNN’s Betsy Klein.
After his media blitz, Kaine rapidly toured New Hampshire.
“We’re doing everything fun in New Hampshire today,” Kaine said, exhibiting a welcome surge of energy for Clinton’s campaign as he traveled throughout the state with his wife Anne Holton by his side.
Kaine made six stops on the campaign trail:
- He delivered a speech to supporters at the Democratic Committee headquarters in Nashua, New Hampshire.
- He stopped by the Carter Hill Orchard for apple picking.
- He visited with patrons of the Puritan Backroom restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire.
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- He participated in a roundtable discussion at Manchester Community College
- He visited a Clinton/Kaine campaign office in Dover, New Hampshire
- He visited campaign offices in Laconia, New Hampshire.
“Labor Day’s kind of like the gun lap in a mile,” Kaine said to campaign volunteers according to WMUR 9. “The gun goes off, you’ve got one lap to run, and it’s when things really get intense.”
Kaine revealed the details of his busy schedule at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
“I think I’m up to 25 states now in a little bit over five weeks,” he said.
Kaine appeared equally energized as he spoke to supporters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the following day.
“Man, if I hadn’t had six cups of coffee, that would equal six cups of coffee, walking out and seeing the excitement,” he said.
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