Kaine Speaks to Seniors at Fort Belvoir Retirement Community

Virginia's Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine spoke to about 50 senior citizens at the Fairfax military retirement community near Fort Belvoir on Thursday afternoon. Kaine, who is tied in the polls with his opponent, Republican George Allen, talked about national security, strengthening Medicare and Social Security and protecting the environment from global warming. 

The Fairfax at Fort Belvoir is managed by Sunrise Senior Living and is home to about 500 residents. Kaine's speech was televised internally for residents. 

According to a new poll, Kaine and Allen each have 46 percent of the vote. 

"I'm in a very close race," said Kaine. "This is my eighth race, and I'm seven for seven, but I've never been this close this far into an election." 

Kaine, 54, served as the mayor of Richmond from 1998-2001, Virginia's lieutenant governor from 2002-2006, governor from 2006-2010 and as the chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2009-2011 - a position he left to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Jim Webb. Allen, also a former Virginia governor, served in the U.S. Senate until defeated by Webb in 2006. 

"I think we need to go into Medicare and find ways to save, like having the federal government be able to negotiate over the prices of drugs," said Kaine, adding that changes need to be made with Social Security. "I don't look at Social Security with a growing sense of urgency, but we need to make modest adjustments… like increasing the payroll tax cap, which says that after paying $110,000 you no longer have to pay to keep Social Security solvent." 

On national security, Kaine applauded President Obama for the death of Osama Bin Laden and on efforts to delay Iran's nuclear program via a partnership with Israel.

"We need to spend national security money in the right way. It's less about regimes than it is about terrorist groups and cyber threats. We need to spend money to prepare for tomorrow's challenges rather than today's," he said. 

Allen is against President Obama's health-care reform law. "My opponent says this health-care tax law will be great for Democrats," he  on Tuesday. "I want to be the deciding vote to repeal the health care tax law, and we need to replace it with personalized plans."

Kaine said that Allen's approach to repealing health care reform would hurt small businesses. "I've talked to a lot of small businesses that think differently," Kaine said. "As it stands, businesses with 15 employees or less would receive a tax credit. His position would take that away." 

Kaine said that he believed that global warming exists, a sharp contrast from Allen, who told Greenspring residents that he believes the earth is experiencing a natural warming cycle.

"George (Allen) ridicules wind and solar energy," said Kaine. "I believe that we need to take incentives from big oil and put them into research for low-carbon emitting technology. We don't need to incentivize Exxon Mobil. They're doing just fine."