Hillary Clinton's Vice Presidential Favorite 'Goes To Bat' For Wall Street, Pushes For Deregulation

"He was one of 13 Democrats who did not sign onto a separate letter authored by Senate Banking Committee Chairperson Sherrod Brown, supporting a strengthening of new rules for payday lenders, so borrowers don't continue to get trapped in a vortex of debt," Dayen reports.

So Kaine, it seems, represents a sharp contrast with the image the Clinton campaign has attempted to construct in the face of a more progressive challenger.

Confronting accusations that she is beholden to big money interests, Clinton has attempted to explain away the lucrative speeches she has given to Wall Street banks, and she has been quite dismissive of attempts, by Sanders and major media outlets such as the New York Times, to persuade her to release the transcripts of these speeches.

Hillary Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have received more than $153 million in speaking fees since 2001, according to an analysis by CNN.

As of May, Clinton had raised $4.2 million in campaign funds from Wall Street, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

And it seems that Clinton's attempt to put on a more progressive front by adopting some of Bernie Sanders' rhetorical style and by campaigning alongside liberal firebrand Elizabeth Warren has failed to convince voters who are increasingly considering voting for a third party candidate.

If she ultimately decides to select Tim Kaine as her running mate, Hillary Clinton will be forced to confront accusations that she is pivoting to the center and away from the progressivism of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and the voters who support a more aggressive approach to regulating Wall Street — and to ensuring that the criminal behavior of bankers and other powerful figures in the financial industry no longer goes unpunished.

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