As speculation continues to swirl over who Barack Obama will pick as his running mate, one of the top prospects, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, joined the Democratic presidential candidate on the campaign trail Thursday, according to dpa. Obama is in the middle of a two-day swing through southern Virginia, which has become one of the most hotly contested states in the country this election season. Kaine, 50, joined a rally that played up Obama's economic policies in the southern town of Chester. Virginia has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, but an influx of left-leaning and younger voters into affluent northern suburbs near Washington over the past years has put the state back into play. Obama trounced his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the state's primary in February and has led in opinion polls against Republican rival John McCain. A current average of state opinion polls by realclearpolitics.com puts McCain ahead of Obama by 0.6 percentage points. Kaine, elected governor in the state in 2005, could help put Obama over the top. A rising star in the Democratic Party with a reputation for bipartisanship, Kaine is also a national co-chair of Obama's presidential campaign. Obama is expected to name his vice presidential pick in the coming days.
