Aug. 3--Where there's black and white, Tim Kaine the lawyer, the city councilman, the governor looks for the gray.

Allies who have worked with him throughout his legal and political career in Richmond talk of his diplomatic approach, how he optimistically tries to forge compromises on complicated issues.

It hasn't always worked for Kaine, now a potential running mate for Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. Opponents point to the General Assembly's failed transportation session this summer as an example of Kaine the partisan, not the diplomat.

Kaine talks about compromise but then sets parameters in his favor, said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, who has locked horns with Kaine frequently.

Kaine called state lawmakers back to Richmond to find ways to raise money for roads. He offered a plan that even some members of his own party wouldn't back, but he asked lawmakers to use it as a starting point.

"If you don't like my bill, show me what you have to offer," he told lawmakers, according to Sen. Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William. In the end, no plan appealed to both parties in both chambers, and the session ended in failure.

. . .

There's a dichotomy in how people perceive Kaine. He used to frustrate a former law partner for being so nice to opposing counsel, but as governor he has had limited success partnering with members of the GOP-controlled House of Delegates.

Robert Holsworth, a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University, said some of Kaine's troubles stem from a "highly unusual political dynamic." The Republicans were determined not to give Kaine the success they allowed his Democratic predecessor, Gov. Mark R. Warner, in 2004, when some in the GOP helped push through a $1.4 billion tax increase.

And Kaine has been dealt a tough hand economically, with revenues for 2009 expected to come in under projections.

That would add difficulty in next year's assembly session when Kaine tackles environmental issues, an area overseen by Secretary of Natural Resources L. Preston Bryant Jr.

In a recent meeting, Kaine and Bryant were discussing upcoming challenges, the lean state budget among them.

Kaine said something that resonated with Bryant to the point that he wrote it down: "We make people happy when times are good and we earn our pay when times are tough."

. . .

Kaine saw very tough times up close during a year he spent away from Harvard Law School as a missionary in Honduras. Other than his marriage, Kaine calls the experience "the transformative event of my life."

Seeing people deal with "the most terrible poverty" and maintain "a sense of uplift" gave him "a sense of mission in my life when I lacked it," Kaine told PBS interviewer Charlie Rose on Wednesday.

Kaine said he returned to Harvard "a changed kid," determined to "take the humble gifts I have and use them to serve other people."

In Honduras, Kaine had read a quote from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that "the most segregated hour of the week is 11 o'clock Sunday morning." He resolved that wherever his future led, racial reconciliation would be at the core.

. . .

By 1990, Kaine was a director of a mid-size Richmond law firm with a specialty in health care, insurance, real estate and government work.

"He did a lot of business law as well as the civil-rights cases . . . but public service was always a large part of his law practice," said Thomas Wolf, a Richmond lawyer who worked as Kaine's partner.

In 1998, Kaine showed his skills as a lawyer when he won a $100 million jury verdict against Nationwide Insurance, which the state Supreme Court later threw out. But Kaine negotiated an out-of-court settlement for $17.5 million in 2000, netting his firm about $5.8 million in fees.

Kaine's specialty was housing law, and he had represented the nonprofit group Housing Opportunities Made Equal since 1984, often for free or for discounted fees.

He represented death-row inmates as well, including Richard L. Whitley. Kaine said that "something personal in me will die, too" shortly before his client's execution in 1987 for the sexual assault and murder of an elderly neighbor in Fairfax County.

Kaine had devoted nearly 1,000 hours of largely free legal work in a project that accounted for much of his first few years in Richmond.

"That's not the best way to start a legal career, but he was concerned with using his law degree to do public service," Wolf said.

. . .

Kaine's dissatisfaction with Richmond's City Council drove him to enter politics in 1994. He won a hard-fought campaign against incumbent City Councilman Benjamin Warthen by fewer than 100 votes.

"Within weeks of the election, he was doing living rooms -- mini-town halls with people," remembers William J. Pantele, who succeeded his neighbor as 2nd District council member when Kaine was elected lieutenant governor in 2001.

In 1998, shortly after fellow council members elected him mayor, Kaine said he kept a list of things to do on his desk that he looked at every day. They included the questions: "Have you talked to all council folks this week? Have you been in all nine districts this week? Have you told city staff they're doing a good job this week?"

His rise has not been without political missteps. In 2000, three fellow City Council members questioned Kaine's use of $6,600 in taxpayer money from his City Council discretionary spending account to send eight chartered buses to the Million Mom March, a gun-control rally in Washington. Kaine reimbursed the city and then raised private money to pay for the trip.

Viola O. Baskerville was elected to the Richmond City Council the same year Kaine was. After Kaine was elected governor in 2005, he appointed her to her current post as state secretary of administration.

"Council was conducted more like a business" under Kaine's guidance, she said, by keeping the debate focused and the hours shorter. He promoted the use of committees to make recommendations to the full council.

. . .

Several of Kaine's Cabinet secretaries describe him as sharp, personable and a thoughtful listener. He is confident in the direction he would like to go but trusts his Cabinet leaders to advise, and he's open to negotiating differences, they say.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Marilyn B. Tavenner joined Kaine's administration from the private sector. She finds Kaine easy to work for, particularly in the health-care realm because he likes measurable results.

"He's probably one of the quickest studies I've ever had the privilege to work for," she said. "His recall is amazing."

Kaine reached across the aisle when he tapped Bryant, a Republican delegate from Lynchburg, to serve in his Cabinet.

Bryant said that when Kaine first approached him about serving, he said "just because you may join my administration, you don't give up your right to be a Republican. We put no handcuffs on anybody. You can do anything political. The only thing we ask is give us a heads-up when you do something publicly so we don't read about it in the paper."

But some say the bipartisan camaraderie doesn't extend to all. Del. William R. Janis, R-Henrico, said Kaine's management style is "politics first, politics second. He looks for what will help Democrats and hurt Republicans."

Janis has criticized Kaine, a national co-chairman of Obama's campaign, for spending time campaigning out of state for the Illinois senator.

Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond, hasn't always agreed with Kaine but has supported him. He touts Kaine's ability to find solutions among divided parties.

"He understands that problems are complicated and that the answer isn't always a sound bite." Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or omeola@timesdispatch.com.

Contact Dave Ress at (804) 649-6051 or dress@timesdispatch.com.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6078 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.

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