This, despite the fact that in modern (post-12th Amendment) history, only Martin van Buren (Andrew Jackson’s Veep) and GHWB (Ronald Reagan’s veep) have won election to the presidency as sitting VPs.The thing is that VP is political heir of the POTUS - kind of a prince, except the POTUS has only a 4-year term - and it isn’t an executive position. And neither, of course, is Senator. And the other thing is that whenever anyone first attains statewide office (senator or governor), the clock starts running, and nobody has been elected POTUS without attaining national office within 20 years of attaining statewide office.
The upshot is that VP Biden actually is not presidential material. Whereas sitting our sitting VP is a former governor (who attained national office only 4 years after his governorship started). Mike Pence will have all the right boxes checked in 2024. Assuming that the Trump presidency continues to be successful.
“...only Martin van Buren (Andrew Jackson’s Veep) and GHWB (Ronald Reagan’s veep) have won election to the presidency as sitting VPs.”
Interesting. So a VP’s ability to secure the nomination is no indication of his ability to win the Presidency.
A few more related dynamics:
VPs who have been nominated but failed to win the Presidency, have rarely chosen to run again four years later, and the exceptions, Humphrey in 1972 and Ford* in 1980, failed to win the nomination on their second attempt. (Ford gets an asterisk because he ran both as a past VP and as a past unelected President).
However, Richard Nixon, who was nominated but lost in ‘60, and who chose not to run in ‘64, was nominated a second time in ‘68, and went on to win the Presidency twice by landslide.