If Kaine maintains his [Senate] seat, Stephen J. Farnsworth says, then his most likely scenario is sticking right where he is, “to develop an even more extensive career in terms of lawmaking.”
With the Democratic Party scrambling to regroup, it’s unclear how Kaine’s political perspective will fit into the new power structure. But he doesn’t return to the Senate battered, bruised or embarrassed. His vice-presidential run, while unsuccessful, was a risk worth taking.
“When you are offered the chance,” Farnsworth says, “nearly every politician will accept. It comes at relatively little cost to their own careers, and offers them not only the opportunity to be vice president, perhaps, but at a minimum to be a national figure moving forward.”
