Does the VP Pick Matter?

I ran across an article today discussing the approval ratings of various VP candidates, and this got me to thinking about whether VP picks matter. I think they do matter, but in a different way than usually contemplated.

The way they matter is that they show the judgment, or lack thereof, of the presidential candidate, because it is the first major decision which a presidential candidate has to make.

Donald Trump bungled the choice, as shown by the fact that surveys have Vance's net disapproval rating at -9%, the worst ever for a VP candidate. Worse even than Tim Kaine's -4%, and Sarah Palin's -2%.

A review of past choices over the years reveals some interesting blunders. Goldwater's choice of obscure Congressman Bill Miller in 1964 certainly did his campaign no good. Nixon's choice of Spiro Agnew in 1968 and 1972 was a bad choice, but he could have won those elections running with Mickey Mouse.

Moving on to 1972, we have the biggest blunder ever made, when George McGovern failed to properly vet his choice and had to remove him from the ticket after the convention. The excuse given by his campaign manager was totally lame. He said that they were too busy trying to hold their coalition together at the convention to pay any attention to the VP choice. He ludicrously claimed that the gay rights caucus was threatening to bolt. Huh? Where were they going to go?

Jimmy Carter in 1976 demonstrated the right way to pick a VP. Prior to the convention, he had the top three candidates fly down to Plains, Gerogia and he met with each of them one-on-one. His pick, Walter Mondale, was a good pick.

However, Mondale in 1984 made a poor pick, when he chose an obscure Congresswoman, making the same mistake Goldwater did in 1964. Moving ahead to 2000, Al Gore blundered by choosing Joe Lieberman. The moralistic Leiberman had made hiimself infamous by roundly denouncing President Clinton's personal shortcomings in a strident speech on the Senate floor. The choice of Lieberman represented a faulty campaign strategy of running away from Clinton, who left the presidency with one of the highest approval ratings in modern history for a retiring president.

John McCain made the infamous blunder in 2008 of picking Sarah Palin, but this was not actually his mistake. Hwe wanted to run with Joe Lieberman, who was willing to switch paarties and run with McCain, but the party bosses vetoed the idea. Hillary Clinton's pick in 2016 was weak, as Tim Kaine added nothing to he ticket and nothing to the campaign.

And now we have the fascinating race shaping up in 2024. Trump flunked his test by picking Vance, and Harris passed her test with flying colors with her inspired pick of Wulz. The final result seems preordained.