Gov. Tim Kaine has announced that he is backing presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama. As a Virginian, I find this quite a surprise since Kaine campaigned to me on how he is pro-life (but he will follow the law) and, incidentally, he is anti-capital punishment (but, once again, he will follow the law).

With Kaine embracing such a staunch defense of the unborn, (he told us he's pro-life, you know) I don't see how he backs up the quasi-divine Obama who voted against providing health care to Americans who survive an attempted murder (the word the elitist media used was "abortion").

Obama Got Start in Civil Rights Practice

CHICAGO (AP) - Attorney Judson Miner called Harvard to offer a job to a graduating student named Barack Obama and didn't expect to be showered with gratitude. Still, he wasn't expecting the reception he got."You can leave your name and take a number," the woman who answered the phone at the Harvard Law Review said breezily. "You're No. 647."That was 1991 and even then Obama - the Illinois senator now seeking the Democratic presidential nomination - was a hot commodity.As the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama had his pick of top law firms. He chose Miner's Chicago civil rights firm, where he represented community organizers, discrimination victims and black voters trying to force a redrawing of city ward boundaries.Like many lawyers, Obama never took part in a trial. He spent most of his nine-year career working as part of a team, drawing up contracts, briefs and other legal papers.The firm of Miner Barnhill & Galland, many of whose members have Harvard and Yale law degrees, has a reputation that fits nicely into the resume of a future presidential candidate."It's a real do-good firm," says Fay Clayton, lead counsel for the National Organization for Women in a landmark lawsuit aimed at stopping abortion clinic violence.

Hillary has a chance

But the notion of a woman in the White House appeals to me more and more, and with Hillary Clinton's potential candidacy, things seem to have escalated in that direction.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not one of the "true believers" who thinks every American dwells in fond nostalgia for the Clinton years, who assumes that everyone will jump at the chance to vote for another Clinton.

A CBS News poll indicates that 38 percent of Americans dislike Hillary, a daunting number.

Regardless, a Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Hillary beating both John McCain and Rudy Giuliani (50-45 percent and 49-47 percent respectively). At this early point, hers is a chance far higher than I'd imagined.

Still, I'm curious to see how all of those who've decried the "Bush dynasty" will react to Hillary's potential nomination.

Clinton and Obama minis

Last week, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) were at each other's throats in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

But as plastic action figures, they're the "2008 dream team," a two-doll set offered by Herobuilders.com.

Which miniature candidate leads the ticket? Herobuilders won't say, but it's hard not to notice a disparity between Obama's "Beetlejuice"-esque shrunken head and Clinton's bulbous blond noggin.

"Obama's tux is too big, but his head is properly scaled," insisted Herobuilders President Emil Vicale. The Clinton doll is another story. "It has a big head, and that was intentional," Vicale said.

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