[ProudGOP]

The only thing a VP nominee needs to bring to the ticket is some reassurance that he will adhere to the same principles as the presidential nominee.

That sounds great but it is simply untrue.

Traditionally the VP has been used to balance the ticket, usually geographically. If the Republicans are running someone from the North East, then they need someone, probably a popular governor, from the South.

Sometimes it is used to balance by race or gender. Running black guy? Make sure you pick an old White guy so some voters aren't scared off. Running an old white guy? Pick someone black or a woman.

I love Vivek but he doesn't help the ticket in any way. If he was black, I could see it but he just won't help win anything. For the most part, people who like Vivek like already like Trump so there is no point to him being on the ticket

[libh8er]

“ I love Vivek but he doesn’t help the ticket in any way. If he was black, I could see it but he just won’t help win anything. For the most part, people who like Vivek like already like Trump so there is no point to him being on the ticket”

You are mistaken about that. I have been following his social media feeds closely and he is doing VERY well with young voters. Many are Biden regrets and an even bigger bloc are younger voters who aren’t into politics but feel excited about his candidacy, similar to the Obama effect of 2008. Read the comments on his YouTube channel and you will get an idea. This is the demographic Trump could make big gains with with VR as his running mate.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Traditionally the VP has been used to balance the ticket, usually geographically.

I don't believe that - no one votes for a balanced ticket, they vote for the top of the ticket. The only impact a VP candidate can have is a negative one - if he/she is sufficiently bad, voters who would otherwise have voted for the top of the ticket might stay home. I know the traditional dogma about balancing tickets, and it gave us the likes of George HW Bush in the White House - no one voted for Reagan because Bush was his VP candidate.