Does the VP matter?

[demwing]

It seems as if the VP duties are limited to tie-breaking votes in the Senate, being next in line should the President be unable to serve, and helping the Pres "balance the ticket" during their first election (on 2nd terms, no one mentions "balance&quot .

But what could an administration do with a well qualified VP, if they really wanted to stir the pot?

What real authority does the VP have in their role as President of the Senate?

What real authority does the VP have when they preside over joint sessions of Congress?

Can the VP also hold a cabinet position?

Any thoughts, DU?

[tularetom]

1. The VP can be a force for evil

You may remember a case where this once happened.

[demwing]

8. Worst actually vp of my life

Was obviously Cheney, but Nixon would have been a close 2nd.

Thank god Cheney was old and sick, else he might have followed Nixon's lead. Luckily, Cheney stayed a dead heartbeat away from the WH.

[liberal N proud]

2. It is about what if unimaginable happened

If all goes well, the VP is insignificant, but god forbid, something happens to the President, you had better hope they chose someone who can carry on where they couldn't.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

3. There's an old joke about a woman who had 2 sons, one became a sailor, the other became VP

Neither was ever heard from again.

[djean111]

4. It seems a bit strange to me, to be talking about VPs so early, BUT

I would never vote for someone based on their ostensible choice for VP, if I support another candidate whose policies I like better. As you have pointed out, a VP really does not get to do much at all. For instance, I would see Warren as totally just cynically used to get votes and then wasted as a Clinton or Biden VP, but I would see Warren as working with Bernie, as a VP, because they have the same viewpoints, for the most part. That I know of.

[demwing]

7. It's early to speculate about a specific VP selection

But my questions are more a generalized inquiry. Thanks for your response

[NV Whino]

5. Remember that the VP is frequently the next candidate for Pres.

VP serves as experience and name recognition for someone not quite ready or recognized for top spot. This is why I think Rubio will be the VP candidate for the GOP.

[karynnj]

6. There are two aspects to that - what they bring politically AND to the administration governing and

Politically, I would think that as an ASSET, the choice of VP is over rated, though it is the first glimpse of the Presidential nominee deciding.

There have been many political strategists who consider the choice a way to pull in marginal votes of people who really like a VP and are ok, but not excited about the Presidential nominee.

This can be geographical - LBJ was said to have been important because he was able to pull in votes in Texas that Kennedy may not have received himself. It could also be to pull out more of a demographic group - potentially for Castro, it is said to be because he is Hispanic (though he was also very very good at the 2012 convention). A time where it really did not work was when Mondale, in a probably already doomed race, chose Geraldine Ferraro. Palin was partly an attempt on the Republican side to do this.

Another theory is that someone is chosen to strengthen the overall team in some way. Obama picking Biden, with his Scranton roots and decades of foreign policy could be called this. Al Gore was politically very similar to Clinton, but unlike Clinton had years in Congress and a very clean reputation.

One thing I have never seen work is when nominees are pushed to select a media/insider favorite who is very different than the nominee. In a sense, Joe Lieberman, John Edwards and Sarah Palin were all examples of this. I suspect that all three of these nominees would have been trashed had they gone with their guts and rejected the advise to select the choice they did. I have yet to see a campaign where the darling of the political chattering class who was made VP came close to generating the interest or excitement of the potential President. The closest might have been Palin, with the looney right.


From recent history (on the Republican side), the choice of VP can be a negative -- there were many people who might have voted for McCain, who absolutely couldn't once he picked Palin.

[demwing]

9. Excellent details - do you know the answer to my last question?

Can the VP also hold a cabinet position? Anything that constitutionally prohibits that move?

[karynnj]

10. Didn't answer because I don't know

I suspect there is no prohibition if they could get confirmed.

However, if there is a strong relationship with the President, the VP job can expand to fully utilize all his/her capabilities. The VP is part of the national security team and can be assigned various tasks giving them high profile. Consider Biden, who clearly was important on foreign policy - even taking the lead on Iran in the first term. He also led the team on monitoring the stimulus projects. Consider that Al Gore led on finding efficiencies and improving government and was the point person on NAFTA.

Where it might be interesting is if a high profile person, not close to the nominee, was recruited and the nominee wanted him/her more than he/she wanted the job, they might want the cabinet position to make certain that they have power beyond breaking ties and being first in the line of succession.

It would seem in almost all cases that having an additional talented player is better than having that person tied down running a cabinet agency.

(For instance, what would you have proposed with Biden. He was strong in many areas, but was best known on foreign policy. Yet had he been both SoS and VP, that would have been a loss as there was no way that he could have devoted the time and energy that either Clinton or Kerry did on foreign policy -- and been there to assist on critical domestic policy issues. )

[MiniMe]

11. Sarah Palin mattered as a VP candidate

I think the 2008 election would have been closer if not for Palin. The VP is next in line to become President, and I think that possibility with a senior candidate in McCain scared a lot of people to death. So it can matter. The joke 88-92 was that Dan Quayle was an "insurance policy" for poppy Bush.

As for your other questions, just look at Cheney.

[KamaAina]

12. Two words: Dick Cheney