Senators as Running Mates: Democrats VS Republicans

[Mister Mets]

I've noticed an interesting difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to presidential tickets.

Democrats love nominating Senators for Veep. Let's look at it since 1944.
The list of Democratic Vice-Presidential candidates.
1944: Senator Harry Truman of Missouri
1948: Senator Alben Barkley of Kentucky
1952: Senator John Sparkman of Alabama
1956: Senator Estes Kefaulver of Tennessee
1960: Senator Lyndon Johnson of Texas
1964: Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota
1968: Senator Edward Muskie of Maine
1972 (first choice): Senator Tom Eagleton of Missouri
1972 (second choice): Former Ambassador/ Piece Corps Director Sargent Shriver
1976: Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota
1984: Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York
1988: Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas
1992: Senator Al Gore of Tennessee
2000: Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut
2004: Senator John Edwards of North Carolina
2008: Senator Joe Biden of Delaware

The only times the Democrats didn't pick a Senator for the election were 1972, when the Senator they chose had skeletons and his closet and other Senators declined McGovern's offer, and 1984, when Mondale wanted someone who wasn't a white guy and found his options limited.

Meanwhile, the list of Republican Vice-Presidential candidates is a bit different.
1944: Governor John Bricker of Ohio
1948: Governor Earl Warren of California
1952: Senator Richard Nixon of California
1960: UN Ambassadaor Henry Cabot Lodge (former Senator)
1964: Congressman William Miller of New York
1968: Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland
1973: Congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan
1974: Former Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York
1976: Senator Bob Dole of Kansas
1980: Former CIA Director/ Congressman/ Ambassador to China George HW Bush
1988: Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana
1996: Former HUD Secretary/ Congressman Jack Kemp of New York
2000: Former Defense Secretary/ Congressman Dick Cheney of Wyoming
2008: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska
2012: Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin

The Republicans have nominated a few Senators, but they tend to include other types of candidates as well. Is it all just a coincidence? Or are there structural preferences within the parties?

And what does it mean for 2016? Should Democratic Senators do their best to make sure they'll be good running mates for Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Andrew Cuomo in 2016? Should Republican Senators make their peace with the probability that a Governor, Congressman or cabinet member is the most likely Veep?

[Niemeyerite]

That's very interesting. I'd like to have an aswer for it, but I haven't.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The funniest thing is how the only two times the Dems didn't pick a Senator, they lost in epic landslides.

[PJ]

Probably a coincidence, but maybe it's an ideological thing. Dems support more government programs and government restrictions economically, so in other words more power to the Federal government. So they choose someone involved in Federal government. GOP supports less federal and more state government. They choose governors.

[DC Al Fine]

On a completely unrelated note, I support Govenor Schweitzer to be the Democratic VP nominee in 2016

[PJ]

Just seeing if there's a correlation here, would you support a democrat like Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, or Max Baucus if they ran?

On a completely unrelated note, I support Govenor Schweitzer to be the Democratic VP nominee in 2016

[Mr. Morden]

The presidential and vice presidential nomination system was so different before the 1970s that the reasons for why this would have happened back then were probably different.  But in terms of why there's been this difference post-1970s.....is part of it just the type of person who got Cabinet level appointments in the Johnson, Carter and Clinton administrations vs. the type who got Cabinet level appointments in the Republican administrations of the same era.

The administrations of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush included several people who either had already run for president or would eventually end up on a national ticket.  So you've got former UN ambassador and CIA director Bush put on the ticket in 1980, former HUD secretary Kemp in 1996, and former SecDef Cheney in 2000.  They had all served in the House as well, but their most recent political office had been some Cabinet level appointment.  Maybe the corresponding Democratic administrations just weren't as interested in appointing people with national political ambitions to their Cabinet, for whatever reason?

In any case, that difference might have faded now, since several Obama appointees are discussed as options for higher office some day.

[politicus]

On a completely unrelated note, I support Govenor Schweitzer to be the Democratic VP nominee in 2016

He will be Senator Schweitzer by then...

[DC Al Fine]

Just seeing if there's a correlation here, would you support a democrat like Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, or Max Baucus if they ran?

On a completely unrelated note, I support Govenor Schweitzer to be the Democratic VP nominee in 2016

No. The Dems haven't won in a very long time with a non-Senator VP nominee. Ergo I support Govenor Schweitzer to be the VP nominee.

[Mister Mets]

The funniest thing is how the only two times the Dems didn't pick a Senator, they lost in epic landslides.

In 1972, McGovern went with a Senator, and it didn't work out too well.

After the Eagleton fiasco, he offered the nomination to several Senators, who all turned him down.

In 1984, Mondale wanted a running mate who brought diversity to the ticket. That limited his option, since most of the available Senators were white guys. He also considered three Mayors, and a Governor elected in 1983 (the only Democrat to hold major statewide office at the time.)

On a completely unrelated note, I support Govenor Schweitzer to be the Democratic VP nominee in 2016

He may very well be a Senator by then.

* Edit- And Politicus said the same thing.