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At FSU, Tim Kaine makes Clinton campaign's plea for early voting, new gun laws

 
Democratic vice presidential nominee, Tim Kaine, D-Va., accompanied former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, speaks at campaign rally at Florida State University on Friday in Tallahassee. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)
Democratic vice presidential nominee, Tim Kaine, D-Va., accompanied former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, speaks at campaign rally at Florida State University on Friday in Tallahassee. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)
Published Oct. 28, 2016

TALLAHASSEE — Tim Kaine was in a motorcade speeding across Florida's capital when news broke Friday that the FBI was reviewing new Hillary Clinton emails it had uncovered.

Facing reporters minutes later outside early voting at the Leon County Courthouse, the Democratic nominee for vice president deflected.

"I've got to read a little more," he said in response to questions.

The renewed interest in Clinton's emails and Kaine's Florida swing come as the Clinton campaign ramps up efforts here in the final week before the election. President Barack Obama rallied voters Friday in Orlando, and Clinton is expected to return to Miami today for a Jennifer Lopez concert.

Inside Oglesby Union on the campus of Florida State University, Kaine made the case for why this state matters.

"Florida is checkmate," the Virginia senator said. "Why don't you change your name already from the Sunshine State to the Really Close Election State?"

The RealClearPolitics.com average of polls in Florida shows Clinton up by 0.7 percentage points.

With Donald Trump saying the election could be "rigged," the Clinton campaign is trying hard to shore up not just a victory but wins by wide margins in swing states like Florida. And the campaign is hoping that momentum can carry down ballot to congressional races and the Senate fight between Republican incumbent Marco Rubio and Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy.

Kaine lambasted Rubio for supporting Trump after Rubio called the Republican presidential nominee "dangerous" and a "con artist."

In addition to emphasizing early voting, Kaine stumped for new gun laws, appearing alongside former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly. Giffords, severely injured in a mass shooting in Tucson in 2011, started a left-leaning political committee called Americans for Responsible Solutions that supports candidates who favor gun control.

In a statement, the National Rifle Association urged Floridians to vote against Clinton and Murphy.

"This election is about the right of law-abiding Americans to keep a firearm in their home for self-protection — and that means it's about the Supreme Court," spokeswoman Amy Hunter said in a statement.

In November 2014, a gunman shot and injured three people at Strozier Library on the FSU campus.

Kaine didn't talk about the shooting, but he did call attention to two deadly shootings that captured national attention: one at Virginia Tech in 2007 when Kaine was the state's governor and the other at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June.

"After the shooting at Virginia Tech, there was one thing I hoped," Kaine said. "And that was that there would never be a shooting worse than the shooting at Virginia Tech."

Pulse was worse. Forty-nine people died in the shooting at the gay nightclub's Latin night.

"We've got a sickness, folks," Kaine said. "We've got a sickness, and we've got to do better."

Contact Michael Auslen at mauslen@tampabay.com. Follow @MichaelAuslen.