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VP Picks 2012

Eric Canter is getting his licks in as a leader among the teabagger wing. Frankly, I would love to see somebody with that kind of baggage weighing Romney down.
 
Nova Land said:
There was an interesting thread back in July 2008 in which posters here tried to predict who would be the Democratic and Republican VP selections.

The suggested format was for people to list their top 5 guesses, in order, for who the choice would be for each party. Most people here had either Palin in their Republican list or Biden in their Democratic list, but few people had both. No one had Biden as their top pick and only one person had Palin as their top pick.
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Thanks, I forgot about that one.

I still don't fully understand why Obama picked Biden. I'm sure he'll be on the ticket this time though.

Rubio remains my top pick for the Republican ticket for the reasons I mentioned earlier.

If I were to name my top 5 republicans now they would be:

1. Rubio
2. Ryan
3. Haley
4. Jindal
5. Christie

Not so sure about the 2-5 rankings though. They're all basically in a 4-way tie for 2nd as far as I can tell.
 
Some Biographical info:

All of the people I named are quite young. Christie is the oldest at 49. Ryan is 41, Jindal and Rubio are 40, Haley is 39 but will turn 40 on Jan. 20.

Is 40-41 too young? I know that 35 is the legal limit, but would voters be comfortable with a 40-year-old? 40 sort of feels like a magic number to me where you can start to feel like they are old enough to be president. But for some people it might be 45 or 50.
 
Anyone who picks Bachmann or Palin is just putting nails in their coffin. Might as well run a Gingrich/Trump ticket. OTOH, I am intrigued by the potential of Hillary Clinton stepping in for Biden. She'll be 65 next year so 69 in 2016. That's the same age as Reagan was when first elected. And you know she wants it.
 
For the Republicans, since there chances of winning are so very poor, I expect that someone virtually unknown nationally and who is rather obscure will be there VP. In much the same way that the first Bush choose Dan Qualye and McCain choose Sara Palin.

The advantage of choosing such people is that they are often quite grateful at being given such a big chance, which engenders hard work on thier part. And another advantage is that at first, it can be difficult to dispute the choice since so little is known about them; which can buy some time before the day of the election.

As for the Democrats, I expect that Biden will be there VP; unless he bows out due to serious health problems of some sort.
 
I thought Huntsman might be aiming for a VP slot, but now I doubt it. If Romney gets the nomination (as seems likely), he'd have to pick someone to ease the Christian conservatives' fears about his moderate politics and Mormonism. I think he'd pick Bachmann, or maybe Rubio. Christie, maybe, but that would be two candidates from the Northeast, which I don't think the GOP wants. Newt's lost most of whatever credibility he had, Cain and Perry outed themselves as idiots, and Santorum's...Well, he's Santorum.
 
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hgc said:
The Vice President is elected, not appointed/confirmed.

However, if the Vice Presidency becomes empty, the President appoints a new one, who must be confirmed by a majority of both houses of Congress. See: US Constitution, Am XXV, Sec 2. This has only happened once: when Jerry Ford became VP.
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er, no. not quite.


The 25th amendment has been invoked twice, once as you pointed out for Jerry Ford, and the second time when Ford appointed Nelson Rockerfeller to be VPOTUS.

more interesting info

Seven vice presidents have died in office:

George Clinton (served under James Madison)

Elbridge Gerry (served under James Madison)

William Rufus De Vane King (served under Franklin Pierce)

Henry Wilson (served under U.S. Grant)

Thomas Hendricks (served under Grover Cleveland)

Garret Hobart (served under William McKinley)

James Sherman (served under William Howard Taft)

Two vice presidents resigned: John C. Calhoun (served under Andrew Jackson) and Spiro Agnew (served under Richard Nixon).

The vice presidency has been vacant due to resignation or death a total of 37 years and 290 days, about a fifth of the time.*

Eight presidents have died in office. One resigned.
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http://hnn.us/articles/128.html

* interesting statistic.
 
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Alferd_Packer said:
er, no. not quite.

The 25th amendment has been invoked twice, once as you pointed out for Jerry Ford, and the second time when Ford appointed Nelson Rockerfeller to be VPOTUS.

more interesting info

http://hnn.us/articles/128.html

* interesting statistic.
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Oy, yeah. Quite obvious. As R. Perry would say, "oops."

Quite interesting that the VP office was vacant so much over history, and never in those times did the presidency become vacant. At least now there's a clear line of succession beyond VP.
 
Adding in E. Cantor and C. Rice, according to the suggestions of readers above. Also, I'm going to score J. Bolton's endorsement of M. Rubio as another up arrow for him -- just because.

GOP
C. Christie
T. Pawlenty
R. Perry
M. Bachmann
J. Huntsman
R. Santorum
M. Huckabee
M. Pence
P. Ryan
B. Jindal
N. Gingrich
S. Palin ↓
J. Rell ↑
N. Haley
M. Rubio ↑↑
E. Cantor
C. Rice

Dem
J. Biden (inc)
H. Clinton
 
Hello to the Paulites, from A. Packer, eater of mountain men:

GOP
C. Christie
T. Pawlenty
R. Perry
M. Bachmann
J. Huntsman
R. Santorum
M. Huckabee
M. Pence
P. Ryan
B. Jindal
N. Gingrich
S. Palin ↓
J. Rell ↑
N. Haley
M. Rubio ↑↑
E. Cantor
C. Rice
R. Paul (le fils)

Dem
J. Biden (inc)
H. Clinton
 
There's not any realistic chance of this happening, so I'm not suggesting this as an addition to your list. But the person I'd love to see as Republican VP choice is Lincoln Chafee.

He's no longer officially a Republican, having left the party in 2007 to become an independent because he felt the Republican Party had moved too far in the wrong directions. In 2008 he endorsed Barack Obama for the presidency over John McCain. And his stands on the issues would likely infuriate the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party. In the short run (i.e. the 2012 election) his selection would probably lose more votes than it would attract.

But in the long run it's people like Chafee whom the GOP should be putting forward -- rather than candidates such as Bachmann, Cain, and Palin, and rather than advocates such as Coulter, Hannity, and Limbaugh -- if it hopes to become a serious political party again.

There were once many reasonable people in the Republican Party; now they're an increasing rarity. Selecting Chafee for the VP spot on the ticket would send a signal that such people are once again welcome in the party and valued by the party.

Here's an example of a recent incident involving Chafee which reminded me of how much I wish people such as Chafee were still prominent in the GOP:

Carolers singing "O Christmas Tree" crashed Rhode Island's Statehouse tree lighting on Tuesday after Gov. Lincoln Chafee unwrapped a holiday hubbub by calling the 17-foot spruce a "holiday" tree.

Chafee insisted his word choice was inclusive and in keeping with Rhode Island's founding as a sanctuary for religious diversity...

Chafee argues that he is simply honoring Rhode Island's origins as a sanctuary for religious diversity. Religious dissident Roger Williams founded Rhode Island in 1636 as a haven for tolerance, where government and religion would forever be kept separate. Chafee's immediate predecessor also referred to Statehouse trees as "holiday" trees.

"If it's in my house it's a Christmas tree, but when I'm representing all of Rhode Island I have to be respectful of everyone," Chafee said after the tree lighting. "Now we can get back to next year's budget ... with pleasure."
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B. McConnell, governor of Virginia, has made it amply clear that he is interested in receiving the call. (Sorry, no linky)

GOP
C. Christie
T. Pawlenty
R. Perry
M. Bachmann
J. Huntsman
R. Santorum
M. Huckabee
M. Pence
P. Ryan
B. Jindal
N. Gingrich
S. Palin ↓
J. Rell ↑
N. Haley
M. Rubio ↑↑
E. Cantor
C. Rice
R. Paul (le fils)
B. McDonnell

Dem
J. Biden (inc)
H. Clinton
 
I saw a former governor of Nevada mentioned today. Welcome to B. Sandoval.

GOP
C. Christie
T. Pawlenty
R. Perry
M. Bachmann
J. Huntsman
R. Santorum
M. Huckabee
M. Pence
P. Ryan
B. Jindal
N. Gingrich
S. Palin ↓
J. Rell ↑
N. Haley
M. Rubio ↑↑
E. Cantor
C. Rice
R. Paul (le fils)
B. McDonnell
B. Sandoval

Dem
J. Biden (inc)
H. Clinton[/QUOTE]
 
Jodi Rell is a very nice lady and would probably make a good running mate, but she's from Connecticut and that's not going to get the Republicans anything.

Christie could probably have it if he wants, but I think he's waiting for 2016.

Jindal would be an interesting pick, but I think some Republicans will have enough problem voting for a Mormon and then throw in a foreigner? (I know he's not.)

Perry and Bachman would give conservative cred, but too much baggage.

Nicki Haley might work. A southerner, former darling of the Tea Party, but they don't like her any more.

Pawlenty's out of work, so he's probably up for it and he'd help.
 
Spindrift said:
Jindal would be an interesting pick, but I think some Republicans will have enough problem voting for a Mormon and then throw in a foreigner? (I know he's not.)

Nicki Haley might work. A southerner, former darling of the Tea Party, but they don't like her any more.
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Both of these people are 2nd generation Indian American.

What did Haley do to displease the Teahadists?
 
I think it's high time Biden leaves and in comes kermit the frog.
 
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