What if a President Hillary, with VP Kaine or Warner, Fails to Finish Her Term?

[Free Bird]

It could be death by illness, assassination, impeachment, whatever you want the failure to be. For our purposes, put it somewhere in mid-late 2018. What kind of job does President Kaine or Warner do? Does he half-ass it because he didn't want it like Gerald Ford, or go into it full-force like LBJ? How popular would he be considering the circumstances? Does he run for reelection in 2020 and does his win?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Of course he runs for election in his own right.  Duh!

Ford's problem was that he was an un-elected Vice President who succeeded a President that resigned.  A (so far) unique circumstance.  John Tyler settled the question of whether or not the Vice President is the "real" President upon the death of a sitting President.  If we go back to questioning that, we have taken some serious steps backward as a nation.

[mufc1878]

kaine, yes.

warner, no.

hrc won't pick warner over kaine.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Of course he runs for election in his own right.  Duh!

Ford's problem was that he was an un-elected Vice President who succeeded a President that resigned.  A (so far) unique circumstance.  John Tyler settled the question of whether or not the Vice President is the "real" President upon the death of a sitting President.  If we go back to questioning that, we have taken some serious steps backward as a nation.

The constitutional question and the question of perceived legitimacy or perceived presence of 'a mandate' aren't the same, and the latter varies from case to case, which is the point of this thread.

[Santander]

kaine, yes.

warner, no.

Warner would be the better president, but Kaine is more likely to become popular and win re-election.

[Lincoln Republican]

Both would run in 2020.

Neither would win in 2020.

[Lyin' Steve]

Both would likely have middling popularity, i.e. mid-to-high 40s.  They'd be higher than Ford.
Both would likely run.  Why not?  Your political career is over otherwise.  But they'd be challenged hard from the left by Elizabeth Warren or some new rising star seeing an opportunity.

Based on the fact that Warner has been pretty good at all his jobs so far while Kaine has been middling at his jobs, they would probably be the same as president.  Kaine will be the better VP pick though because he's a charismatic, boyish, charming fellow with a pretty solid "good guy" private life and a lot of credibility with the hispanic community, while Warner is worth $150MM as a former CEO and a little awkward.  Kaine is also the kind of guy who could be elected after Hillary or, more likely, run against an incumbent Paul Ryan in 2024.