Which Vice President came to the office most prepared and qualified?

[Mister Mets]

Biden actually has to be up there given how long he was in the Senate, and all his chairmanships. Cheney was one of the big cabinet members (Secretary of Defense) as well as a former White House Chief of Staff. And he was in congressional leadership.

LBJ was Senate Majority Leader. As was Alben Barkley.
Rockefeller had a long tenure as big state Governor.
Humphrey had been a big-city mayor and Senate Majority Whip.
John Garner had thirty years in Congress, with two as Speaker of the House.
Andrew Johnson had served in pretty much every office imaginable (State House, State Senate, US House, US Senate, Governor, Military Governor.)

The winner has to be Elbridge Gerry. He had distinctive careers in Congress and as Governor of Massachusetts, and a political technique every party wants to master (THE GERRYMANDER!) is named after him.

[Mister Mets]

George H. W. Bush had the broadest variety (everything but state government) but was never in a given position for very long.

Easier would be least qualified, which is Spiro Agnew.

Chester Arthur begs to differ.

He held some patronage posts in New York, most notably Collector of the Port of New York and Chairman of the New York Republican Party. He never served in a Cabinet, nor was he ever elected to any office. He was selected as Veep because he was a supporter of Ullyses S Grant. Went on to be a solid President when Garfield was assassinated.

It's interesting looking at the backgrounds of Veeps how qualified they usually were for the office.

Agnew and Arthur stand out for their relatively unimpressive resumes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Vice_Presidents_of_the_United_States