Is the Pop Catholic? Is Joe Biden demented? Of course the VP choice should matter. In fact, it is irresponsible and incompetent for voters not to regard the second slot on national tickets as potential deal-breakers. However, who is running for VP is firmly in shrug territory for the vast majority of Americans, and always has been.
Rasmussen Reports found in a recent survey of both Democrats and Republicans that Trump’s VP, soon to be announced, won’t make “much of a difference” on Election Day. 82% of Republicans and 81% of Democrats said that they didn’t care. Just 12% of Republican and Democratic likely voters told pollsters that Trump’s VP might tip the scales for them on Election Day.
I’m surprised it was that high. Not only voters, but parties and Presidents have been insanely unconcerned with the qualifications and leadership ability of Vice-Presidential candidates from the very first one, John Adams, who had no governing experience when he was named George’s back-up and was temperamentally ill-suited for leadership—as he quickly proved when he was elected President to succeed Washington. [Note: for some reason I gave Adams a pass when I posted the first installment of the “Worst President Ever” series, and have revised that post. He wasn’t the worst President, but he was definitely one of the worst.]
As we are finding out now to our sorrow, Vice-Presidents are important. The dark cloud of cackling, fatuous, DEI VP Kamala Harris looming over the Presidency if poor President Biden leaves the ticket before the election or inevitably is unable to complete four more years if he is re-elected should strike terror into any rational citizen. Trump, meanwhile, isn’t much younger than Biden and is in the demographic range where staying healthy, hardy and alive for four years isn’t a sure bet by any means.
We have had 45 Presidents. Nine of them got the job only because the President before them died, was a assassinated or resigned. That’s 20%, a not insignificant percentage. In addition to those nine (and one of them, Gerald Ford, wasn’t even elected VP), another six were elected President primarily on the strength of having served as Vice-President, including Biden. So there is a substantial chance, 1 in 3, that the individual a Presidential candidate chooses to be his running mate is going to be President. Most of them, like Biden, have not been very good ones, though we have been lucky in some cases (Arthur, Teddy, Coolidge, Truman, LBJ).
A poor, ill-motivated, or absurd choice of a running mate should, but never does, weigh heavily against a POTUS candidate. Going back to 1964, some of the choices have been so irresponsible that they are hard to believe: Goldwater’s choice of William Miller (Who?); the villainous and corrupt Spiro Agnew, Nixon’s first VP; Walter Mondale’s pandering pick of Geraldine Ferraro, a DEI choice before there was DEI; Dan Quayle of course; yes, Biden himself, and Kackling Kamala. As a general proposition, I believe that a careless or incompetent selection of a running mate is a strong sign that the Presidential candidate himself is untrustworthy, but there are exceptions, notably FDR, whose choice of Harry Truman as his VP when Roosevelt knew he was probably dying may have been the most indefensible selection of all until Kamala Harris. Harry, as we now know, rose to the occasion.
But the United States of America should not have to hope for good luck regarding its elected leaders.
Ethics Alarms 
And Chet Arthur was largely considered a tool of Roscoe Conkling until he rose to occasion (Thank you, Julia!).
“Thank you Julia” indeed!
Ok, I am now going out back to puke, I just read this on CNN…which I believe stands for Certainly Not the News….
The most important person is now Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris, who has been continually scrutinized and criticized, is the only figure who can save Biden’s candidacy at this point. In the coming weeks, she’ll need to demonstrate that she can command the public stage by talking about issues like reproductive rights and offering the strongest prosecutorial argument in favor of the president. She needs to show the kind of gravitas that voters expect of a president, one they trust to handle the problems of the day. The more she can do this, the more confidence she can instill in another term for Biden.
OK, CAN I MAKE IT TO THE BACKDOOR BEFORE I BARF???
My guess is Joe resigns quite soon, Kamala is elevated to president and runs for president this fall with the Biden campaign’s war chest (a key consideration: she’s the only one who can deploy those funds). Whoever is running the country currently will simply continue running it but with a different sock puppet. Harris will win the election because the Dems control the ballots. Would there be any difference between Joe being propped up and covered for than Harris being carried along on a sedan chair? No.
I guess my comment was in response to yours, mhs. I must have espn.
“Harris will win the election because the Dems control the ballots. Would there be any difference between Joe being propped up and covered for than Harris being carried along on a sedan chair? No.” (italics mine)
Unless authentically patriotic grassroots repubs/dems have closed the innovative legislative/legal loopholes installed under the pretense of covid, all the handwringing is just a distraction that favors the unethical dems. From here on out; the integrity of our elections must be a primary if not the primary focus. Unless the uncertainty around election integrity is clearly resolved, we are doomed…
Happy Fourth y’all…🤠
Cactus Jack was right on the VP. Then there was the Egleton mess.
Eagleton (Shriver wasn’t much better as a choice) was in an unusual circumstance where the POTUS candidate was so weak and unqualified that almost anyone would be an improvement.
Here is why I feel that, in this race at least, the VP question does not change my opinions much.
While I dislike the idea of voting for Donald Trump, I prefer Trump over Biden by a significant margin. I prefer Trump to Harris by a large margin. I prefer Trump to a mainstream Democratic totalitarian focused candidate like Newsom, Hochul, or Whitmer. I cannot currently come up with a VP candidate that Trump could announce that would drag Trump down on the cognitive dissonance scale below a Biden/Harris ticket and other theoretical Democratic tickets are similarly hampered. Therefore, whomever he chooses will be inconsequential to whomever I vote for.
Now watch Trump prove me a liar…
When we vote, are we voting for a Pres/VP package or for Pres?
If Biden croaks the day before election day and Kamala is installed as president, then how does this affect the ballots? If the ballot is written Biden, then assume that means Kamala?
Well it should be the package.
But does the law/rules(are rules as binding as law) explicitly require full package as written on ballot?
If not, oh the fun that will be had with voting for a dead guy… but it says Biden and he’s dead… but the law does not say he has to be alive… but there is no Kamala+Friend on the ballot… but the Wise Latina says go with intent… but Clarence Thomas says show me the words that were written… like a dog chasing its tail.
The constitution provides that if the president-elect has died before being sworn in, the vice president-elect shall be sworn in as president.
However, I don’t know what happens if a candidate dies just before the election or if the winning candidate dies between the election and the casting of the electoral votes.
My first assumption would be that the states control the pre-election situation. I wouldn’t be surprised if the federal government could prescribe the solution, though.
Wasn’t it Greeley who died in between the election and the electoral vote casting? What happened with his electors? Of course, he was a loser so it didn’t matter as a practical application.
After looking at it a bit more, I think the best solution if a candidate dies after the election is simply not to issue a death certificate until after Congress certifies the results. No death certificate, he’s not legally dead, right?
So elect the guy (or gal), certify he or she has unfortunately passed away, and then on to the vice president elect.
If a legislature can stop the clock at 11:59pm to avoid having to dissolve whilst they finish up their tasks, is this such a big leap?
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Yes, this is tongue in cheek, but dang, it’s a knotty problem.
My understanding is that the parties have a process to replace a candidate who leaves the race between the convention and Election Day. Democrats : The DNC has the power to fill any vacancy on the national ticket after the convention, after the party chair has consulted with Democratic governors and congressional leadership.
Republicans: The RNC can either reconvene the national convention or select a new candidate itself.
That’s how it was explained to me by a Republican National Committeeman.
interesting. Does that mean that, if Biden suspends his campaign, his money and his delegates should go to Harris? Who would pick her running mate? The DNC? Harris?
jvb
As I understand it the money goes to Harris (Biden-Harris campaign), but the nominee is determined by the party, according to their rules as would the VP nominee.
They have a slew of ‘superdelegates’ who cannot normally vote on the first ballot in the convention. I am pretty sure Biden can release his delegates, and I think if he does then the superdelegates come into play, but if released they would be committed to no one as far as I know.
And, of course, if Biden doesn’t do anything pretty soon, they are planning to have a virtual ballot ahead of the convention to do the actual nominating, in part to meet some of those pesky ballot requirements like Ohio’s.
At times, though, I think why obsess about Ohio? Biden’s never going to carry the state. But then if there is only one candidate on the presidential line what does that do to the senatorial and congressional races?
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In 1968 I was a finishing my sophomore year in high school. I remember making out a paper and pencil spreadsheet for the Democratic convention voting, and playing with it (by myself) because some of the possibilities were so fascinating (pretty sure this was before RFK’s assassination).
I also remember reading a magazine article about the election, which postulated that no one won in the electoral college and it then went to Congress. The Senate was hopelessly deadlocked on the VP (since only 2 candidates get sent to the Senate), but somehow or other they described a scenario where the House elected John Lindsay to be president. And all was sweetness and light ever after, or something.
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Speaking of which I wonder what happens if the election goes to Congress and they really cannot elect a VP? Does the new president then just nominate a VP?
OK, I promise, no more rabbit holes (today).