No more Nixons! (I'll take a Cheney)

[davidnc76]

Vice presidents once were little more than Senate chairs and presidential spares. Then they became presumptive heirs, favored candidates for their party's presidential nomination. George W. Bush broke that pattern by picking a running mate with a great resume but no wish to run eight years later. John McCain and Barack Obama would be wise to do the same.

Originally, the runner-up in the vote for president became vice president, the first two being John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. But in 1804, the rules changed: Vice presidents would be separately elected. By then, political parties had formed. They preempted vice presidential leadership of the Senate and began pairing presidential candidates with far less eminent running mates, chosen for regional balance.

A small role became a black hole. While the president lived, the vice president was not seen or heard, except to break rare tie votes in the Senate. In 150 years, only one sitting vice president - Martin Van Buren - was elected president, and of the seven who succeeded to the office on the death of a president, only three were later elected, or even nominated.


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http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080809/OPINION/808090307/1028/OPINION02