Tim Walz may be the next US VP. To those he taught, he’s Mr Walz.

“They knew we were Democrats,” Matt Klaber, one of the students, told the BBC.

“At this time, the Bush campaign was turning away any possible protesters from their rallies and this was no exception.”

When Mr Klaber pulled out his ID, the staffers observed a faded John Kerry sticker on his wallet. The students were sent home.

Mr Walz has described being “struck by how deeply divided our country was becoming”, external. He went on to volunteer for the Kerry campaign, develop his own local contacts and then launched a bid for Congress in 2006.

“The news reports say part of what Kamala was looking for was chemistry and a governing partner,” said Mr Klaber.

“Then picking Mr Walz was a no-brainer. All the good things people have been saying about him as a person are absolutely true.”

When Mr Walz arrived on Capitol Hill, new members of Congress were learning in orientation sessions about their salary and benefits.

“They were talking about, ‘I know most of you are taking pay cuts,’” he told local Minnesota television station KSTP.

“And I leaned to my aide and said, ‘This is four times what I’ve ever made in my life.’