NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell thinks Sen. Barack Obama really wanted to pick Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as his running mate, not Joe Biden.

“If Barack Obama had followed his heart he would have chosen Tim Kaine of Virginia,“ Mitchell said today on MSNBC. “Tim Kaine is someone he knows well, (and) is really close to.“

Mitchell says the Obama campaign ultimately decided it needed Biden for his foreign policy experience, his work on the Senate Judiciary Committee and his working-class roots that the campaign thinks will boost its appeal to blue-collar voters and to groups such as police officers and firefighters.

Kaine told “Fox News Sunday” that he had “a good visit” by phone on Saturday with Biden and is eager to work with the Obama-Biden ticket.

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