President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly chosen his friend and early supporter Tim Kaine, governor of Virginia, to run the Democratic party. Kaine, who has roots in the same Kansas town Obama's mother's family hails from, was rumoured to be a contender for the Vice-Presidency.
As chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Kaine will guide the Democratic fundraising and campaign efforts for the next four years, but will largely allow Obama to make the major strategic decisions. He takes over from former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who is credited with helping expand the party's reach into hitherto unfriendly red-state territory, and who, in my opinion, deserves praise for holding the party together during the ugliest months of the Clinton-Obama battle.
