From Staff Reports

Unlike her Republican presidential rival Donald J. Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton will work on critically important issues, ranging from education to climate change, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine told a crowd of about 500 people during an outdoor rally on UNC Asheville’s A.C. Reynolds Green on Oct. 19.

Kaine, a Virginia senator who was making his second Asheville campaign stop, described the sharp differences on the issues between his running mate and Trump. (He also campaigned in Asheville in August.)

Kaine began by urging the crowd at UNCA to vote early starting that very day, and noted just how important North Carolina is to the presidential election. Indeed, he called North Carolina a "checkmate" state, adding that without the swing state, Trump would not be able to clinch the election.

"If we win North Carolina, there is zero path for Donald Trump to be president of the United States," Kaine said.

He also urged those present to vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, including for governor and the U.S. Senate.

He also told the crowd not to take a Clinton victory for granted — or let Trump get close enough to victory that he can blame a defeat on anyone else.

Just a few hours before the final debate between Clinton and Trump, Kaine contrasted his analysis of the difference in the personas of the two candidates, saying that what struck him during the first debate was Clinton’s presidential stature.

A protester in the crowd then shouted “Hillary for prison!”

In response, Kaine quipped, “This guy’s had a bad last couple of weeks, you’ve got to have some sympathy for him, right?”

Regarding issues that he and Clinton support that Trump does not, Kaine cited a belief in climate science, that women should get paid equally for equal work and that women should be able to make their own health decisions.

He also said that he and Clinton will work to raise the minimum wage, while Trump will not.

He said the Clinton administration would work to invest in research in clean energy, in infrastructure and manufacturing.

The minimum wage needs to be raised, Kaine said, because someone with a dependent remains below the poverty line working full-time at minimum wage.

“We will focus on where jobs come from,” he said, pointing out that two-thirds of new jobs in the country come from small businesses.

Conversely, Trump’s focus is on tax cuts for the wealthiest, Kaine charged, “and he’s even said American wages are too high... American wages aren’t too high, they’re too low.”

Regarding the cost of college, Kaine said college debt has surpassed credit card debt in the country, with the average student owing $30,000.

He and Clinton have set a bold goal, he said, to make debt-free college, something other nations with less resources already do. And for households making under $125,000 per year, college should be tuition-free.

New ways to refinance student loan debt are also a necessity, he said.

“It is easier to refinance a loan on Donald Trump’s jet than it is to refinance a student loan debt,” Kaine said, adding that it is bizarre and outrageous.

Contrasting Trump’s position with Clintton’s on education, he said Trump is known for one thing in education: Trump University, adding that Trump only sees education as a way to make “a whole lot of money.”

Kained added, “So he set up a non-accredited institution with a lot of slick marketing material. And he taught the, quote, ‘teachers’ to extract as much as they could out of the students’ pockets,” even going after veterans and the spouses of deceased veterans’ GI Bill benefits.

As for climate change, Kaine said it is not “a tomorrow issue, it’s a today issue.” He also said Hurricane Matthew shows that sextreme storm events are occurring more frequently.

Again contrasting Trump’s position with Clinton’s, Kaine noted that Trump has called climate change “a hoax invented by the Chinese” and that Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, says climate change is a myth.

“Hillary and I believe in the science and we want to move forward,” he said, and the country cannot afford to have “an anti-science president.

“We think details matter,” Kaine said. “If it’s about your life, it’s not a detail, it’s a big deal, right? If it’s about our country; it’s not a detail, it’s a big deal.”

Instead of focusing on details, Kaines said Trump’s campaign has been about division from the very first day. He added that Trump’s campaign has been “one insult after another during the entire campaign against virtually every group in this country.

“Donald Trump is now perpetuaing the lie that, ‘Oh, the election is all set against. We know what’s going on. he’s losing.”

He added, “Donald Trump has never been willing to take responsibility for anything, so it’s not like he’s going to stand up an say, ‘Well, I lost. I guess I must have run a divisive campaign... If he loses, it’s going to be somebody else’s fault, and so he’s going around saying the election’s set against him.””