ST. JOSEPH, Mo. _ Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon believes vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine, if the Hillary Clinton/Kaine ticket wins in November, is the ideal person for a certain task that relates to Kaine's Kansas City days and interests.
Resurrect the Border War.
Annual athletic contests between Missouri and Kansas were called off by the Jayhawks after the Tigers left the Big 12 to join the Southeastern Conference in 2012.
Nixon wants the century-old rivalry to return, and he thinks Kaine is the ideal broker.
"When he's the Vice President he can finally melt the ice between the Jayhawks and Tigers and have them willing to play us again," said Nixon on Saturday after taking in a Chiefs' practice at Missouri Western.
Why Kaine?
He grew up in Overland Park, Kan., and attended Rockhurst High and Mizzou before beginning his political career in Virginia. Kaine has said he's a KU basketball fan.
"He's stuck right in the middle of it," Nixon said. "It's not the most important issue he's facing right now. ... We just need to start playing again."
Nixon was a huge fan of the rivalry.
"Now that we've had our few years of everybody trash talking, what's being missed here is the opportunity for two states to compete on an athletic field that draws a lot of people together," he said.
Nixon, like Kaine a Democrat, said his friendship with Kaine dates back several years, and he's admired the path even before Kaine worked in Virginia's state house as Lieutenant Governor to Governor and to the U.S. Senate.
"What I really like about him is he's been a servant leader his entire life," Nixon said. "People that you see in politics that are about themselves _ i.e. (Donald) Trump _ compared to a guy like Kaine. ... He graduates Harvard Law and what does he do? He takes himself to Honduras and gives back right at the beginning of his career when he could have been hired by any major law firm in the country. That's just the way he lives his life."
That esteem will grow if Kaine can mediate a settlement in the Border War standoff.
