Posted on 06/12/2004 5:46:24 AM PDT by 11th Earl of Mar
I know Truman and Roosevelt wern't VP when elected, but still, they were VP's that ended up as president and were re-elected. Ford was very close to being re-elected as well.
Also, Nixon arguably won in 1960, and didn't hold any position between 60-68, so in some way, he went from VP to Pres.
All I'm saying is that being VP is often an effective road to becoming president. 5 Presidents in the past 100 years have been VP's before becoming president.
Explain to me why you like Rice and not Guliani for VP. They are very similar politically, neither pro-life, weak on other social issues, both good on economic/crime/international affairs.
I don't think he should ditch Cheney, but if he did, I don't understand objecting to Guliani and not Rice.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. But Rudy's record suggests he is a gun grabbing, baby killing (pro-abort) RINO. There is NO way he would gather the critical support in the South. The conservative base would eat him alive. The barometer for conservatism in the country will be easy to spot. It depends on the next terrorist attack on home soil and how many casualties are produced. Method of attack will be important, too.
But you make a good point about the next President coming from a cabinet position.
I think the Vilsack 2nd term had more to do with a lackluster GOP candidate.
Sorry, but BALONEY. I have heard him and read his speeches and he IS a gun grabber. You are correct about New York politics, but he is what he is and that's why he fits in so well up there. But it simply will not play in the South. I remember when there was a shooting on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. He was WAILING about the lax gun laws in other states and how crime would never go down until there were uniform laws against guns nationwide.
Once free he would have a different position?
Why can't he pick a truthful position and stick to it period? That just tells me he'd tailor his politics depending on the audience just like Kerry. He's better off running against Hillary or little chuckie schumer.
Heinz ketchup and Vilsack pickles. This team will be grist for the comedians.
Vilsack polls slightly higher than the Ebola virus here in Iowa.
As his Lt. Governor he chose Sally Pederson. Pederson is married to James Autry who co-founded People for the American Way with Norman Lear. One of Vilsack's biggest individual contributors is Vance Opperman, a Minneapolis native who runs West Publishing. Opperman was an organizer for SDS at the University of Minnesota in his college days.
Those who know Gross describe him as a sleazy, conniving, backstabbing lawyer. He won the primary simply because two good men were also on the ballot and split the conservative vote between them.
If nothing else, the '02 Republican primary was a hard lesson in how not to nominate a good man to run against the 'Rats.
Only Nixon. Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson all became President after the death of a President and were re-elected once.
Nixon and Bush were the only VP's to win election to the Presidency while not the current President. Taken as a whole, it's not a favorable position to be in if you aspire to the Presidency.
Look at the Vice-Presidents of the 20th century:
Theodore Roosevelt (1901)
Charles Fairbanks (1905 - 1909)
James Sherman (1909 - 1912)
Thomas Marshall (1913 - 1921)
Calvin Coolidge (1921 - 1923)
Charles Dawes (1925 - 1929)
Charles Curtis (1929 - 1933)
John Garner (1933 - 1941)
Harry Wallace (1941 - 1945)
Harry Truman (1945)
Alben Barkley (1949 - 1953)
Richard Nixon (1953 - 1961)
Lyndon Johnson (1961 - 1963)
Hubert Humphrey (1965 - 1969)
Spiro Agnew (1969 - 1973)
Gerald Ford (1973 - 1974)
Nelson Rockefeller (1974 - 1977)
Walter Mondale (1977 - 1981)
George Bush (1981 - 1989)
Dan Quayle (1989 - 1993)
Al Gore (1993 - 2001)
Of the 21 Vice Presidents, 7 went on the hold the Presidency. Those men won a grand total of 7 elections at the top of the ticket. Compare that to former Governors who won a total of 14 elections out of 25 from 1900 to 1996. The stepping stone to the White House is a Governor's Mansion, not the Observatory.
Here is yet another problem for Kerry just as it sadly was a problem for Bush in 1988. Kerry needs to pick a Vice-Presidential candidate that will not overshadow him. That means not a real exciting choice due to the fact that Kerry just isn't that exciting himself.
Shoot, if Howard Dean had won the nomination, he could have chosen anyone he wanted, but Kerry just doesn't have that option. He just isn't a strong personality.
I think Edwards is a fool, but would be more palatable to the voters than is Kerry. That might help Kerry if he chose Edwards, or it might hurt him. It could backfire, as it did in 88 when Dukakis chose Benson, and spent the entire campaign listening to comments such as "too bad Benson's not at the top of the ticket." That did not help him, and ended up hurting him.
Which is why, IMO, she won't run for reelection. She's already gotten what she needs- the ability to claim that she's an independent woman and not merely her husband's shadow. It's not like she became Senator to serve the needs of the people of New York, after all.
I've never understood the argument that Edwards is charismatic. This is a guy that has won only one election in his life and is not running for reelection because he would almost certainly lose. He won a total of one primary against the weakest Democratic field in a generation. His boyish good looks and well-tailored suits may have been effective with personal injury trial juries but they haven't gotten him very far in national politics.
If Bush turns this around and gets a solid win - and again by solid, I mean just something like 52% of the popular vote, and, of course, keeps Congress in GOP hands - then we will see the Clintons leave the stage. This will not solve the problem of the Democrat Party, but it will remove one danger.
Much hands on this election.
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