WASHINGTON _ The day before Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine takes the debate stage in his home state, Republicans attacked his record on the death penalty.
In a new web ad that recalls the Willie Horton attack on 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, the Republican National Committee is highlighting two of Kaine's clients when he was a defense attorney.
Richard Lee Whitley was convicted of murdering a 63 year-old neighbor in Fairfax County, while Lem Tuggle was found guilty of raping, sodomizing and murdering a 52-year old woman from Smyth County.
While numerous executions took place on Kaine's watch as Virginia governor, he had come up as a defense attorney working to keep people convicted of capital offenses from facing the death penalty.
"The hardest thing about being a governor was dealing with the death penalty," Kaine told the National Catholic Reporter in an interview. "I hope on Judgment Day that there's both understanding and mercy, because it was tough."
The RNC spot also references the commutation of the death sentence of convicted triple murderer Percy Levar Walton. In a statement released with the commutation, Kaine said that the commutation of Walton was due to lack of mental competence, despite court rulings indicating the sentence could be carried out.
"I am again compelled to find that one cannot reasonably conclude that Walton is fully aware of the punishment he is about to suffer and why he is to suffer it," Kaine said. "Given the extended period of time over which Walton has exhibited this lack of mental competence, I must conclude that a commutation of his sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole is now the only constitutionally appropriate course of action."
There's also the widely publicized case of Jens Soering. Current Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe rejected a bid by the German diplomat's son to be sent back to his home country (which was still West Germany at the time he was sentenced to life in connection with a double murder in Bedford County).
The Washington Post reported that Kaine had approved of such a transfer, but that action was stalled by successor GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell when he assumed office.
The presidential campaign of Democratic Hillary Clinton did not immediately release any statement in response to the Republican video, but facing campaign ads and criticism of his record on capital punishment is nothing new for Kaine, currently the junior senator from Virginia.
When Kaine ran for governor in 2005, his GOP opponent Jerry Kilgore ran a negative spot featuring Stanley Rosenbluth, the father of a murder victim whose killer was represented by Kaine.
That ad included Rosenbluth saying that Kaine would oppose the death penalty for Adolf Hitler, a reference that drew criticism at the time.
Kaine released his own direct response in what might be a preview of what to expect Tuesday night in Farmville, Va., when the commonwealth senator will face off against Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana in the only vice presidential debate of 2016.
The RNC's release of the new attack video Monday is likely designed to ensure that the death penalty is a topic of conversation between Pence and Kaine on Tuesday.
