Gotta have serious doubts over Clinton's judgement here, not only in picking someone too close to the center but also putting an otherwise safe senate seat at risk.
No, it wasn't really safe. Virginia's a swing state. The Democrats won that seat by less than 1% in 2006 and about 6% in 2012. Given it will come up in a midterm year it will probably go GOP anyway, look at seats like Colorado and Iowa 2014. And a Democrat Governor gets to appoint a replacement, more progressive picks like Warren or Brown would be replaced by Republican Governors. That's not a reason to oppose this pick.
My comment centered more around the likelihood that the seat was more easily dependable with Kaine (a moderate) as incumbent, rather than having to have a special election in a normally non-election year, where Dem turnout tends to be far lower percentage-wise than Republicans. The smartest choice in that aspect, to me, would've been somebody who isn't currently in the Senate to start with.
