Former Gov. Tim Kaine may be more than halfway through his 19-month campaign for U.S. Senate, but his decisive moments are likely to come in the remaining eight months.

Kaine, Virginia’s Democratic governor from 2006-2010, is expected to square off against former Republican governor George Allen.

Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat, is not seeking another term.

Speaking to the Times-Mirror Wednesday, Kaine said the economy, balancing the budget and finding common ground between the two parties are his three primary focuses, with other critical issues stemming from challenges.

“What does it take to get the economy strong?” Kaine said. “It’s a Virginia story – we were about 38th in the nation in per capita income when I was born, and we’re 7th today. No state’s moved farther than Virginia.”

What the state did, Kaine said, is “we decided simply to embrace talent.” The county needs to focus on developing talent through education, workforce development and “pro-immigration policies.”

“It we keep slipping on the talent war, we’re not going to be happy with our future,” said Kaine.

Kaine tied education into his discussion on the economy, quoting a statistic that has America dropping from first to 16th in terms of young adults with a secondary education.

“The Chinese government is not outsourcing talent policy to provincial governors – they have a national talent policy.”

Balancing the budget, Kaine said it can’t be done strictly through cuts. He advocates for $1 worth of new revenue for each $2 or $3 in cuts.

“You’re not going to mathematically solve [the federal budget deficit] purely on cuts,” Kaine said, noting that’s one of the issues on which he and Allen disagree.

“I’ve got a lot of scar tissue about how to make cuts,” he added. “Not many people in the Senate have really been in a situation where they’ve made very specific cuts.”

Kaine, whose son recently graduated from Officer Candidate School, said the defense budget, for example—a hefty chunk of the federal budget—could be reduced by re-evaluating where U.S. Military bases are located and utilizing new technology.

The former Richmond mayor has been under fire from Republican campaigns who claim he’s too closely tied to President Barack Obama.

“I am the president’s friend and supporter and I’m proud to be,” Kaine said. “I think he’s doing a good job under very, very tough circumstances. He’s not perfect, and I don’t agree with him all the time, but I don’t agree with my wife all the time.”

Of Obama’s health care reform, Kaine praised the legislation he says has provided more affordable preventative care for seniors, allowed recent college-graduates to stay on their parents’ health care until 26, banned insurance agencies’ ability to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions and provided a tax credit for small businesses that offer health care.

To attempt to foster coalitions, Kaine, if elected, said on day one he’d find another freshman Senator, a Republican who he shares certain philosophies with, to help determine policies on which both parties can agree.

On transportation and the Metrorail to Dulles Phase 2, Kaine believes the commonwealth needs to step up its funding for the project to help boost federal dollars.

“I think the state needs to be more of a player than they were in Phase 1,” Kaine said. “Phase 2, I think the federal government can fairly look at Virginia and say, ‘you know, we’ll put in, but you have to put in, too.’ ... I think the state has an interest in this. But it definitely is a project of federal magnitude.”