NARAL blasts DNC chief

The abortion-rights wing of the Democratic Party is none too happy today with a top leader.

Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia, President Obama's hand-picked chairman of the Democratic National Committee, signed a bill including state funding for crisis pregnancy centers, which abortion right advocates calls "anti-choice organizations."

The NARAL Pro-Choice America political action committee said today that Kaine has "taken action that’s inconsistent with the strong pro-choice platform adopted by party leaders last August."

"This is the first piece of legislation involving a woman’s right to choose that Kaine considered since being elected chairman of the national party," said the committee, which says it sent 17,266 messages from activists to the DNC urging Kaine to veto the measure.

Kaine, a rising star in the Democratic Party, was believed to be on Obama's short list for vice president.

“It is unfortunate that, even after receiving thousands of messages from Virginians and pro-choice activists across the country, Gov. Kaine has opted to sign a bill that advances a divisive political ideology at the expense of women’s health,” Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement. “This action reminds America’s pro-choice majority that we must hold elected officials in both political parties accountable when they take actions that are inconsistent with mainstream pro-choice values.”