The Ten Worst Running Mates In Presidential History

[LastMcGovernite]

If we limit our gaze to veeps selected by the candidate him/herself (so essentially Henry Wallace and afterward...). I'm including major parties and the most significant third-party races.

1. Curtis LeMay (Dangerous, trigger-happy maniac)
2. Dan Quayle (Ignorant and Overprivileged)
3. Sarah Palin (Ignorant and Unprepared)
4. Admiral Stockdale ("Who Am I?")
5. Tom Eagleton (as a McGovern biographer, I actually think he could have handled the job psychologically. It's his putting his own reputation above the party and telling Novak anonymously that McG was the "Acid, Amnesty, and Abortion" candidate that makes me think he would have been a poor veep.)
6. William E. Miller (a nonentity who struggled mightily with alcoholism)
7. Joe Lieberman (a historic choice, but unctuous. A poor choice for a ticket already lacking charisma)
8. Fielding Wright (not quite as crazy-ass racist as Thurmond, but somebody who isn't going to enhance the Dixiecrats' already-limited appeal)
9. Patrick Choate
10. Spiro Agnew (not ready, borderline joke candidate, engaged in crime and covered it up poorly)


Nobody asked, but if you applied the same criteria to pick the best 10 running mates- in terms of helping the ticket win or at least come closer to winning:

1. LBJ (maybe the only veep pick that swung an election)
2. Mike Pence (to paraphrase Lady Gaga, white evangelicals had a million reasons to walk away from Trump, but needed only one to stay. Pence gave them that one reason.)
3. Glen Taylor (because if you're Henry Wallace, you obviously want a singing cowboy on your ticket)
4. Ed Muskie (if the election took place a week earlier or a week later, we'd be praising this as a brilliant choice today. Muskie was the embodiment of the American dream and was called "Lincolnesque" back in the day. My Polish grandparents adored him.)
5. Pat Lucey (a great governor who gave Anderson's 1980 ticket wider appeal.)
6. Walter Mondale (helped solidify Carter's shaky relationship with wary liberals.)
7. George HW Bush (helped solidify Reagan's shaky relationship with country-club Republicans)
8. Lloyd Bentsen (gets a spot purely for delivering the best one-liner in US debate history.)
9. Joe Biden (look at last November to see what happens when your ticket can't appeal to blue-collar Rust Belters.)
10. Al Gore (added Washington experience, contributed to a Baby Boomer, New South ticket)