GOP ad eviscerates Tim Kaine for defending accused rapists, murderers

Coming off of a rocky presidential debate and a brutal weekend full of leaked tax returns, the Republican Party is hoping for a big win Tuesday when Gov. Mike Pence debates Sen. Tim Kaine. By all appearances, the GOP is going to come out swinging — they have already released a ruthless takedown of Kaine, who once worked as a defense attorney:

The ad lists a number of Kaine's former clients, including Richard Lee Whitley, who was convicted of murdering his 63-year-old neighbor. "Something personal in me will die today, too [when Whitley dies]," the ad quotes Kaine as saying. It also highlights his defense of Lem Tuggle, who was found guilty of raping, sodomizing, and murdering a woman, and the double murder for which Jens Soering was sentenced to life; Kaine had approved Soering's transfer to a more-tolerant Germany.

While Pence will likely follow such a line of attack at the debate, Kaine will be bracing for the criticism as he's faced it from political opponents before, Roll Call reports. In 2005, Kaine was targeted in ads from his Republican opponent that featured Stanley Rosenbluth, the father of a murder victim whose accused killer was represented by Kaine. "Tim Kaine says that Adolf Hitler doesn't qualify for the death penalty," Rosenbluth accused in what became a highly-criticized ad; Kaine went on to win the election.

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