What WERE They Thinking? VP Choices...

[Robespierre's Jaw]

The worst selection out of the pack was Walter Mondale's 1984 selection of Geraldine Ferraro. There were many other better women Mondale could have selected, such as then Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Though in all honesty, Mondale should have selected Gary Hart.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

I think that Bentsen was actually a better pick for Dukakis than Ferraro was for Mondale.

The reason Bentson was put on the ticket was to hurt Bush in TX.  That failed miserably.

Not to mention, many people thought at the time after Dukakis' decision, that Senator Bentsen should have been on top of the Democratic ticket in 1988 than Dukakis himself.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

Why didn't Bentsen run for President in '88 in the first place?!

He possibly still held bitter memories of his utter failure in 1976.  But that is my own speculation.

That probably is the case Joe. Boy did he screw up his campaign in '76. Now I would have easily preferred Bentsen to have been the Democrat's candidate in 1976 than that peanut farmer from Plains. If only he performed better....

J.J, I have some queries about giving Congressman Anderson's selection of Governor Lucey an A+. Sure Anderson's selection of Governor Lucey had the right motives, but it is my opinion that he didn't connect with potential Democratic voters with his selection of Lucey and it signaled that he wasn't able to win over any prominent Democrat, even after the four years of the Carter Administration.

Who should have Anderson selected in 1980 if he was to connect/win over prominent Democrats? Maybe Senator Teddy Kennedy but he would never have selected a running mate position.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

I really think Dole could have chosen a much better running mate.

I think Dole could have chosen a much better running mate too. However, I believe Dole's selection of Kemp was the only one acceptable to both moderates and conservatives in the GOP.

Now say, if Dole had selected somebody pro-choice like William Weld, Buchanan would have gone apesh**t and ran under the US Taxpayers Party banner taking a significant share of the vote away from the GOP. But saying this, it was unlikely that the Republicans were going to win with Dole in 1996, with or without Buchanan's support.