Who Is Tim Kaine? 10 Things To Know About Hillary Clinton's Running Mate Before VP Debate

It would be near impossible for Tuesday's vice presidential debate to match the anticipation of last week's showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But Tim Kaine and Mike Pence will go at it all the same.

CBS News' Elaine Quijano will moderate the vice presidential debate Tuesday at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. While most of the focus this election cycle has been on Clinton and Trump, Tuesday's debate will be the biggest opportunity since the July party conventions for their VP picks, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine for Clinton and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence for Trump, to connect with voters. With Tuesday's pairing featuring the two understated running mates, pundits expect the debate to be more policy oriented and less focused on the two debaters' personal histories. But it still worth taking a look at both candidates' resumes.

Kaine, who was tapped by Clinton in July, will be debating in his home state where he is currently serving as a senator. Here are 10 things to know about Clinton's running mate:

​Record Of Public Service

Kaine has been in government a long, long time. He was governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, the chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011, and a U.S. senator from Virginia from 2013 until today. Prior to those national posts, he was a city council member and the mayor of Richmond, as well as Virginia's lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2006. Before entering politics, he was a clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and a professor at the University of Richmond law school.

Virginia Tech Shooting

Kaine's signature moment as governor of Virginia was his shepherding of the state through the Virginia Tech shooting. On April 16, 2007, student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting spree on the Virginia Tech campus leaving 32 people dead. Kaine's calming presence and message of faith, empathy and perseverance in the aftermath of the shooting is credited with helping the community heal.

"You can go beyond grief to isolation and feeling despair," Kaine said, addressing the families of the deceased at Virginia Tech's convocation ceremony days after the tragedy. "Those haunting words that were uttered on a hill on Calvary: ‘My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?’ Despair is a natural emotion at a time like this. They’re all natural, they’re all appropriate. But let me ask one thing of you, this community, as you wrestle with your sadness, as you wrestle with your own feelings of anger, of confusion, as you wrestle with the despair—even you family members who have lost people close: You do not let hold of that spirit of community that makes Virginia Tech such a special place. Do not lose hold of that."

He Was A Missionary

Kaine took a hiatus from his Harvard law school in the 1980s to travel to Honduras to work in the country as a Christian missionary in Honduras. He taught locals carpentry and welding.

"My faith is central to everything I do," Kaine told Alexandria, Virginia's local paper Patch. "My faith position is a Good Samaritan position of trying to watch out for the other person."

He Was Bill's Choice

According to a New York Times report from July, Kaine was former President Bill Clinton choice for his wife's running mate. Clinton thought Kaine had the domestic and national security resume needed to connect with voters and balance the ticket.

He Is Pro-Life

Kaine is a devout Catholic. And his religious background informs his not-so-liberal stance on abortion rights. While he supports pro-choice policy, he is no fan of abortion from a moral standpoint.

"I would say people use labels all the time, but I'm kind of a traditional Catholic: Personally I'm opposed to abortion, and personally I'm opposed to the death penalty," he "Meet the Press" in June. "I deeply believe — and not just as a matter of politics, but even as a matter of morality — that matters about reproduction and intimacy and relationships and contraception are in the personal realm. They're moral decisions for individuals to make for themselves. And the last thing we need is government intruding into those personal decisions."

He Backed Obama

Kaine may be Clinton's running mate now, but he was one of the first prominent Democrats to bail on Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries in favor of eventual nominee-Barack Obama. He endorsed Obama all the way back in February 2008

"Sen. Obama is just in a completely different category than anybody I've ever stood on a stage with," Kaine told the Washington Post. "There is just a feeling of, you know, kind of a projection of hope on him from an audience that is just unreal. It's unreal."

Anne Holton

Kaine’s wife, Anne Holton, has an impressive resume in her own right. Holton was Virginia’s secretary of education, a position that she took after her husband moved on from his post as governor of the state and into the U.S. Senate. Prior to her time in office, Holton served as a juvenile and domestic relations district court judge from 1998 to 2005. She left that post when Tim Kaine was elected governor of Virginia. As first lady of Virginia she supported foster care initiatives and was a consultant at the Annie E. Casey Foundation on Foster care reforms, focusing on judiciary reforms. She has also worked on community college programs trying to extend access to foster children.

Spanish

One of the chief reasons Clinton chose Kaine was that he speaks Spanish, the implication being that he would be able to better connect with Hispanic and Latino voters. Kaine has given many speeches to majority-Latino audiences in Spanish and many interviews with Spanish-language news outlets. However, according to a poll conducted in 2015 by Spanish-language network Univision, nearly 7 in 10 Latinos said that a candidate’s fluency in Spanish will not affect their vote.

Trump Impression

Kaine went after Donald Trump during his speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in July, showing off his comedy chops with a surprising Trump impression.

"Trump is a guy who promises a lot, but you might have noticed he’s got a way of saying the same two words every time he makes his biggest, hugest promises," Kaine said, launching into his best impression of the GOP nominee. "'Believe me. It’s going to be great, believe me. We’re going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it, believe me. We’re going to destroy ISIS so fast, believe me. There’s nothing suspicious in my tax returns, believe me.'"

Kaine's comedy routine was met with a mixed reaction from supporters on Twitter, who appreciated the sentiment, but poked fun at the politician's hokey delivery.

The Harmonica

If Kaine has one advantage over anyone else in politics right now it is this: the man plays a mean, mean harmonica.