PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania - Last night, Hillary Clinton selected Senator Tim Kaine (Virginia) as her candidate for vice president of the United States, an announcement that is expected to get the juices flowing for the Democratic National Convention that begins Monday.

Kaine, former governor of Virginia, can help her win this state, which has 13 out of the 538 votes of the US Electoral College.

However, Kaine, who is 58 years old, also has roots in the mid-western region.

The decision made by Clinton—potential candidate to the White House—has to be ratified on Tuesday in the Democratic National Convention.

"I'm thrilled to announce my running mate, a man who's devoted his life to fighting for others," indicated Clinton, former secretary of State, who also served as senator and first lady.

Kaine will be alongside Clinton tomorrow during a political rally to be held at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami (Florida).

After she called Kaine, former Secretary Clinton phoned the others she considered for the post, as well as President Barack Obama himself.

Because he worked for a year in Honduras as a Jesuit missionary, Kaine also speaks Spanish.

"In spite of being American, it would be an acknowledgment to the importance of the Hispanic vote in this election.  It would do a great deal for the Democratic Party to win in Virginia, which is a swing state and has a significant amount of votes in the Electoral College," indicated former Puerto Rico Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock, who is a super delegate in the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Known in the Island

Roberto Prats, head of the US Democratic Party in Puerto Rico, said that the Island's Democrats worked with Kaine when he was president of the DNC, between 2009 and 2011.

In December 2010, Kaine visited Puerto Rico for the US Democratic Party's winter meeting, held in San Juan.

In selecting Kaine, Clinton has chosen a person with whom she has developed a friendship and who, like her, knows the party's structures, since he was president of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during Obama's first two years in the White House.

Kaine—who was also mayor of Richmond, Virginia—left the management of the DNC, to which he was appointed by President Obama, to then aspire to the Senate during the elections of November 2012.

For Senator Kaine these affairs are nothing new, since in 2008 he was among President Obama's finalists when he was in the process of choosing his own VP nominee. Back then, Obama opted for veteran Joseph Biden (Delaware), vice president of the United States since January, 2009.

A great advantage for Democrats is that the successor of Kaine's seat, if Democrats won the White House, would be appointed by another Democrat, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton supporter.

Democrats have their sights on recovering in November the US Senate majority, which Republicans now control, 54-46.

Liberal sectors see Kaine with suspicion for his expressions in favor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), even though he has not yet decided how he will vote.

Bernie Sanders supporters are disappointed with the Democratic government's platform language, since it does not specifically reject free trade agreements like the TPPA.

"Tim Kaine can rally any sector of the Democrat electorate if he is chosen," stated Wesley Clark, retired general and former presidential pre-candidate.

Vilsack

After Kaine, the name that was mentioned the most was Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa.

Clinton and Vilsack were colleagues in Obama's cabinet.

Vilsack is the only member of the presidential cabinet who has been in his post since the beginning of the Obama administration.

Nonetheless, Vilsack has known the Clintons since the '70s.

Booker

The other option that was said to have been under consideration at the last minute was Senator Corey Booker (New Jersey), an African American in his first term in the Senate.

Booker's name gained ground after sources of the Clinton election committee assumed that the Democrats' nominee for vice president would not be Hispanic.