I'm still puzzled over Mark Warner's drop out. There's more than wanting to spend time with family. That's for certain.
If John Warner retires, Kaine won't run for the seat from the Governor's mansion. And there's no way he'd step down to run.
If I were a complete cynic, my thought would be that there's some really nasty stuff in his past that he's afraid would come out in a Presidential campaign, so he's not going to take the chance.
He's still relatively young, isn't he? Because my next thought would be that someone (Hillary) has told him it's in his best interest to sit this one out and wait a bit.
I won't claim to know his motive. But AFAIK, he has not denied the rumors that are all over the place.
>I'm still puzzled over Mark Warner's drop out. <
My guess is he's watching the buzzards circle John Warner, and waiting to use the Warner name recognition (even better now that he's got his own reputation) to step into that Senate seat.
And, I think he may have been offered some sort of plum by Hillary's people.