Did Kaine actually help?

[uti2]

He didn't help, but he would've helped for 2020, which is why Hillary picked him.

[uti2]

I think Kaine was an honest, true-to-herself pick. As her campaign and herself explained, she chose a running mate base on who got along with her most and who could be the best partner instead of making a strategic reaching-out choice. The irony is that she was criticized for not being honest or sincere, yet the VP choice she makes that is sincere and true is criticized for a missed opportunity to pander.

Overall, Kaine was a sound choice, in the context of Clinton's potential re-election campaign, since he didn't hurt or help her original campaign.

But of course, she could've simply picked Sanders for this year only, and then have Sanders 'retire' into another position for 2020.

[uti2]

By the way, since the Clinton campaign claims that they were hurt by the russian hacks, they could've simply neutralized the effect of those hacks by putting Bernie on the ticket, since the hacks were all about Bernie anyway. Bernie would be out there as a member of the ticket on the campaign trail calling the hacks absurd and dismissing them outright.