Reporters' Notebook

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine didn’t get the vice presidential nod, but he did give his enthusiastic support to Sen. Barack Obama Sunday at a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver.

He also lobbed criticism at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Obama’s presumptive opponent. 

“Raise your hand if you know how many houses you own,” Kaine said, referring to McCain’s inability to answer that question last week from Politico reporters. “Raise your hand if your staff” has to get back to you on that. 

“You can’t make this stuff up, folks,” he said.  

Kaine introduced concert headliner Dave Matthews, calling the Charlottesville resident who got his start playing in clubs around the University of Virginia “a great Virginian” who was performing in spite of the death last week of Dave Matthews’ Band saxophonist Leroi Moore from injuries sustained in an accident earlier this summer.

Referring to Obama’s fight for the nomination, Kaine said, “It looked uphill, it looked pretty steep,” using a metaphor that seemed apt given the red rocks that tower over and form the outdoor venue. “But we’re climbing.”

Of Matthews and guitarist Tim Reynolds, Kaine said, “It’s been a tough week, but they’re going to keep climbing, too.”

Matthews agreed.  He apologized for a strained voice but expressed his appreciation for Colorado before playing through a number of his better-known songs. “It’s nice to be in a place where people are talking some sense,” he said.  

Earlier performers included country music stars Sugarland and Sheryl Crow. Sugarland vocalist Jennifer Nettles said that contrary to stereotypes about country music performers, some did indeed care about the environment. 

Speakers at the Denver 2008 Host City Event included Laurie David, producer of Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr., Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

–By Maryland Newsline’s Laurie White