WHILE PRESIDENT BUSH waxed lyrical about the war in Iraq, the future of Iran and everything else from AIDS to Zimbabwe in his State of the Union address this week, a silly little squabble simmered in Democrat-land about who should have delivered their party’s rebuttal.

Muffled cries of “Hell, no!” escaped from the mouths of some establishment Democrats when word reached them that Tim Kaine, the devoutly Catholic, anti-death penalty, newly elected governor of Virginia - the state nicknamed the “Mother of Presidents” because it has spawned so many of them - would deliver the opposition’s response to the annual presidential speech. Why wasn’t someone more important chosen, say Hillary Clinton or cuter and charismatic, say Barack Obama?

But the indignation of the mainstream was nothing to the outcry in the liberal blogosphere, where Governor Kaine, a politically able, decent, former missionary found himself being denounced for such banalities as his raised eyebrow, his less-than-Hollywood looks, his not-so-sparkling style. God forbid, he was actually talking like a man of God. He sounded normal. What’s so terrible about that? After Howard Dean, with the famous kamikaze scream of a campaign speech that wrecked his nomination chances, have the Democrats learned nothing?

Perhaps it’s the librarian in me - no offence to librarians, if you please, they’re nothing but nice - but I think most people would buy his line about there being a better, less partisan way to run American political life. Right now many Americans are looking at Bush and thinking dead soldiers, rich oilman, huge deficit, rising interest rates, expensive fuel, flat wages, corrupt politicians. Hillary is indeed formidable, as Bush himself put it the other day; her fund-raising skills are second to none, and that counts for a lot, well actually, everything. But it’s still hard to look at her and not think “slimy husband, blast from the past, how about something new?” Obama is appealing, smart and moderate enough to draw votes from both sides of the aisle, but except for a fabulous speech he delivered to his party’s convention before the 2004 election, his compelling personal story remains relatively unknown to most Americans.

It’s not that the Republicans are exactly brimming with fresh candidates. But the Democrats seem lately to have shot themselves in the foot so predictably that it’s actually becoming quite dull watching American politics. So it would be fantastic to see a candidate emerge who allows us to have a race about the issues instead of the personalities. Kaine is sufficiently low-key that you find yourself actually listening to what he says. He doesn’t look scripted. He sounds like he means it. And that raised eyebrow? Well, if the handlers had handled him, it wouldn’t be there, and I personally find that rather reassuring. Or maybe he’s another Bill Clinton and he’s so well handled that you can’t tell he’s been handled… I guess only time will tell.

Of course the real point is that Kaine’s election was in large part thanks to the outgoing governor, Mark Warner, who is the real threat to Hillary’s nomination chances. Some people say Democrats are afraid to talk to Warner for fear of falling foul of the queen of Democratic politics. Fear of Warner rather than disdain of Kaine may have been the source of the mutterings.

So Kaine didn’t exactly set the earth on fire, with his calm critique of the Bush Administration, his rather nervous looking stance before the fireplace of the governor’s mansion in Richmond. He was a little more convincing at his inaugural parade, where he looked like he was having a good time despite the lashing rain, with no umbrella and no hat, paying enthusiastic attention to the marching bands, baton twirlers and flag bearers as they passed by without a scowl.

But in the Democrats’ rebuttal, he did sound authentic. I was prepared to listen. Bring on the nice guy, I say.

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