Why Tim Kaine's Decision to Skip Netanyahu's Speech Could Resonate for Years

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine has joined the Democrats who'll skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's March speech to a joint session of Congress. "There is no reason to schedule this speech before Israeli voters go to the polls on March 17 and choose their own leadership," Kaine said in a statement, after describing how he'd worked to delay the event. "I am disappointed that, as of now, the speech has not been postponed. For this reason, I will not attend the speech."

Even by this story's standards, the Kaine move was a Rod Serling twist. Before today, only three other senators had announced that they'd skip the speech—Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and his colleague Pat Leahy, and Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz. Other senators, asked in hallways or through press offices, had demurred, promised they were thinking about it, or (in the case of New York Senator Chuck Schumer) politely suggested everyone should go. The bulk of boycotting Democrats come from blue states and blue districts, many of them from gerrymandered majority-minority seats. Kaine has won two single-digit statewide victories in a state that, until 2008, voted reliably Republican for president.