Which idea is stupider?

[they don't love you like i love you]

Neighboring state advantage - The idea that a candidate will get a boost not only in their home state but the states that border it because obviously every person in addition to being fully aware of who their own elected officials are are also very aware and familiar with the elected officials in all bordering states. Oh, and this applies if that person's at the bottom of the ticket as well.

Convention advantage - The idea that somehow peoples' votes will be swayed to a party by that party clogging up their city and putting it on virtual lockdown for 4 days.

Tough call. I think I'll go with the convention advantage though. At least the parties don't appear to buy into the neighboring state advantage and didn't buy into the convention advantage until 2008.

[MarkWarner08]

Convention Advantage.  What's even stupider than Convention Advantage is the order of delegates. Gore chose Florida last, because he hoped to highlight its importance to the campaign. Why would he jilt his home-state  in such a blatant way?

[Person Man]

neighboring state advantage. Both could be possible in surrounding circumstances.

[ilikeverin]

Using the word "stupider".

[Padfoot]

Convention advantage.  The conventions are so far away from the actual election that any effect they might have is lost once the real campaign begins. 

At least with the neighboring state advantage there is the potential for demographic and ideological similarities between the states.  So it follows logically that if two neighboring states have similar kinds of voters they are probably going to like the same type of candidates.

[J. J.]

Convention advantage.  The conventions are so far away from the actual election that any effect they might have is lost once the real campaign begins. 

At least with the neighboring state advantage there is the potential for demographic and ideological similarities between the states.  So it follows logically that if two neighboring states have similar kinds of voters they are probably going to like the same type of candidates.

You can have media market spillover. 

[Lief 🗽]

Convention advantage doesn't make any sense at all.

Neighboring state kind of makes sense, though that's more of a correlation thing, as a politician from one state will often have similar values, policies, appeals to people in a neighboring state.

[bgwah]

Convention advantage, obviously.

A neighboring state may be in the same TV market and thus the people of that state may already be familiar with a candidate. I think Romney doing best in SE NH shows this. This idea does not apply to many states, but it can occasionally be true.

Washington election results are often strange, with the counties in the Portland TV market voting differently than those in the Seattle, Tri-Cities/Yakima, and Spokane markets.

[they don't love you like i love you]

The media market thing is valid, and is probably true for primaries, but for the general it basically assumes that said candidate is worshipped as a god. Even if people are more familiar with a candidate, that doesn't mean they'll like them. And applying it to the VP candidate implies that people care 100x more about who's at the bottom of the ticket than they actually do.

[Aizen]

Neighboring state advantage holds water in the South. Beyond that though, it's a stupid theory

[they don't love you like i love you]

And even then, as 2004 showed, it only applies to the guy at the top of the ticket.

[War on Want]

Neighboring state advantage actually works a little.
If a moderate Republican from Washington ran for president, lots of Indies in North Idaho would probably vote for them.

[Nym90]

Convention advantage. There isn't much neighboring state advantage in and of itself, but there is a regional advantage generally which would apply to neighboring states. This seems to be especially true in the South, which is more apt than other regions to vote strongly for a Southerner. And the similar demographics is obviously a big part of this.

[Jake]

Both are minor advantages.

Convention: Energizes party base in said state, brings out more volunteers, etc. which effects the entire campaign operation, turnout and such.

Neighboring state: Media market spillover - if Rendell was the Democratic VP nominee, his popularity as PA Governor and Philly mayor would carry over into Delaware and New Jersey (this assumes they aren't already strong Democratic states). And as Nym says, Regional advantage is big; especially in the South, but a Midwesterner or New Englander with a high profile makes a difference.

[Хahar 🤔]

Probably convention, although the neighboring state idea has been retarded for decades, especially for veeps.

[Stranger in a strange land]

neighboring state advantage: it's easily falsifiable, plus as you say most ppl know nothing of elected officials in states bordering theirs.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Even if media markets result in people in one state being fairly familiar with a candidate, that doesn't mean they really care. Do most Americans have a strong opinion of Stephen Harper?

[Keystone Phil]

Wow. Suprisingly, the Pawlenty issue (which this is obviously centered around) wasn't mentioned!

[Akno21]

Can anyone actually name any instances of either having an effect? Did being a Massachusetts Senator help Kerry in New Hampshire?

[they don't love you like i love you]

Wow. Suprisingly, the Pawlenty issue (which this is obviously centered around) wasn't mentioned!

Because Pawlenty is only one such example of people buying into this stupid theory.

[Bacon King]

Neighboring state advantage has some relevance. Look at the 2008 Iowa caucus, for example, and see where Obama performed the best.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Neighboring state advantage has some relevance. Look at the 2008 Iowa caucus, for example, and see where Obama performed the best.

That's largely due to Illinois Democrats coming over to volunteer and help with GOTV. It's not like people in eastern Iowa thought "Obama is from the state next door, so I'll vote for him on that basis alone"

Also primaries are different from the general in this case.

[Хahar 🤔]

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https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=809.msg29989

[jokerman]

A strict neighboring state advantage is indeed ridiculous, but in terms of campaigning a vice-presidential candidate is going to be strongest at campaigning in his own region, of course.