Biggest VP pick miscalculation?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Some consecutive picks:

1960 - Nixon's belief that Lodge would force JFK to campaign in his own state ended up alienating southern conservatives and not remotely helping his numbers in Massachusetts.

1964 - Goldwater for some reason got it into his head that his random pick, Miller, who literally nobody knew, had the ability to get into LBJs head and "trigger" him or whatever, despite the fact that Johnson barely knew anything about him.

1968 - LeMay. Why did this happen? Did Wallace seriously just think "oh we're both hotheaded and unorthodox conservatives, we must agree on everything!

[darklordoftech]

1972: Eagleton is the one who Nixon got "amnesty, acid, and abortion" from and ended up having to be replaced.

1976: Ford replaced Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of an Elector-heavy state, with Bob Dole, who had barely won re-election to his Senate seat.

1988: Quayle seemed arrogant and dumb. Bush won in spite of him.

2000: Lieberman fed into "no real difference" narratives, helping Nader and depressing turnout. Gore could have picked Bob Graham, former Governor of Florida.

2008: Palin seemed dumb and like a religious extremist.

[Liberalrocks]

Sarah Palin 2008

[Wazza [INACTIVE]]

Quayle and Palin.

[dw93]

1972: Eagleton is the one who Nixon got "amnesty, acid, and abortion" from and ended up having to be replaced.

1976: Ford replaced Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of an Elector-heavy state, with Bob Dole, who had barely won re-election to his Senate seat.

1988: Quayle seemed arrogant and dumb. Bush won in spite of him.

2000: Lieberman fed into "no real difference" narratives, helping Nader and depressing turnout. Gore could have picked Bob Graham, former Governor of Florida.

2008: Palin seemed dumb and like a religious extremist.

All these plus 1968 with Agnew and 1984 with Ferraro's baggage, and while it was far from the biggest miscalculation, Hillary could've done better than Tim Kaine. Bernie won 22 states and rather than unite the party, she gave his supporters the finger by doubling down with Kaine.

[TrumanJohnson]

1972: Eagleton is the one who Nixon got "amnesty, acid, and abortion" from and ended up having to be replaced.

1976: Ford replaced Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of an Elector-heavy state, with Bob Dole, who had barely won re-election to his Senate seat.

1988: Quayle seemed arrogant and dumb. Bush won in spite of him.

2000: Lieberman fed into "no real difference" narratives, helping Nader and depressing turnout. Gore could have picked Bob Graham, former Governor of Florida.

2008: Palin seemed dumb and like a religious extremist.

All these plus 1968 with Agnew and 1984 with Ferraro's baggage, and while it was far from the biggest miscalculation, Hillary could've done better than Tim Kaine. Bernie won 22 states and rather than unite the party, she gave his supporters the finger by doubling down with Kaine.

I couldn’t agree with you more on Kaine. Quayle and Lieberman were also horrible choices. If I’m not mistaken didn’t Lieberman criticize Bill Clinton during the impeachment trial?

[dw93]

1972: Eagleton is the one who Nixon got "amnesty, acid, and abortion" from and ended up having to be replaced.

1976: Ford replaced Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of an Elector-heavy state, with Bob Dole, who had barely won re-election to his Senate seat.

1988: Quayle seemed arrogant and dumb. Bush won in spite of him.

2000: Lieberman fed into "no real difference" narratives, helping Nader and depressing turnout. Gore could have picked Bob Graham, former Governor of Florida.

2008: Palin seemed dumb and like a religious extremist.

All these plus 1968 with Agnew and 1984 with Ferraro's baggage, and while it was far from the biggest miscalculation, Hillary could've done better than Tim Kaine. Bernie won 22 states and rather than unite the party, she gave his supporters the finger by doubling down with Kaine.

I couldn’t agree with you more on Kaine. Quayle and Lieberman were also horrible choices. If I’m not mistaken didn’t Lieberman criticize Bill Clinton during the impeachment trial?

He did.

[Mr. Smith]

1960: Lodge

2000: Lieberman

2008: Palin

[TML]

2004 - Edwards was supposed to make some Deep South states competitive, but that didn't happen. Gephardt could have flipped states like MO, IA, and OH into the D column, thereby giving that party the victory.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

2008 made that election into a landslide victory.
2000 and 2016 might have been lost because of VP choices.
D's also didn't pick a good VP in 2004.

The biggest one is 2008, but it wouldn't have changed the outcome.

[MarkD]

Sarah Palin 2008

[President Johnson]

1976: Bob Dole. He added nothing to the Republican ticket and was a false compromise within the party to help Ford win the nomination. He should have either kept Rocky or go with Reagan. Both were much stronger, even though for different reasons.

2000: Joe Lieberman was a terrible pick and didn't help Al Gore anywhere. He should have gone with Bob Graham, who would have delivered a few extra votes in Florida. Jeanne Shaheen or Tom Harkin would have been good as well.

2008: Sarah Palin. I think this doesn't need further explanation.

[Flyersfan232]

1972: Eagleton is the one who Nixon got "amnesty, acid, and abortion" from and ended up having to be replaced.

1976: Ford replaced Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of an Elector-heavy state, with Bob Dole, who had barely won re-election to his Senate seat.

1988: Quayle seemed arrogant and dumb. Bush won in spite of him.

2000: Lieberman fed into "no real difference" narratives, helping Nader and depressing turnout. Gore could have picked Bob Graham, former Governor of Florida.

2008: Palin seemed dumb and like a religious extremist.

oh like lieberman would have help mccain

[TDAS04]

2004 - Edwards was supposed to make some Deep South states competitive, but that didn't happen. Gephardt could have flipped states like MO, IA, and OH into the D column, thereby giving that party the victory.

Yeah, Edwards was truly a dumb pick.

For those of you who think Kaine was a mistake, who should Hillary have picked instead?  Brown?  Warren?  Sanders himself?

[OSR stands with Israel]

2004 - Edwards was supposed to make some Deep South states competitive, but that didn't happen. Gephardt could have flipped states like MO, IA, and OH into the D column, thereby giving that party the victory.

Yeah, Edwards was truly a dumb pick.

For those of you who think Kaine was a mistake, who should Hillary have picked instead?  Brown?  Warren?  Sanders himself?

Brown

[dw93]

2004 - Edwards was supposed to make some Deep South states competitive, but that didn't happen. Gephardt could have flipped states like MO, IA, and OH into the D column, thereby giving that party the victory.

Yeah, Edwards was truly a dumb pick.

For those of you who think Kaine was a mistake, who should Hillary have picked instead?  Brown?  Warren?  Sanders himself?

Jeff Merkley. Steve Bullock has his fight against Citizen's United Going for him.

[KaiserDave]

2000 with Lieberman, didn't add much. Shaheen or Graham would have sealed the deal for Gore.

2008, do we really need to discuss?

2012, while Paul Ryan's proposed strategy of campaigning to struggling inner cities was smart, he added very little compared to say Rubio or Ayotte.

[Stranger in a strange land]

2004 - Edwards was supposed to make some Deep South states competitive, but that didn't happen. Gephardt could have flipped states like MO, IA, and OH into the D column, thereby giving that party the victory.

Yeah, Edwards was truly a dumb pick.

For those of you who think Kaine was a mistake, who should Hillary have picked instead?  Brown?  Warren?  Sanders himself?

When your primary opponent is getting huge crowds, even bigger than Trump, small donations and activist energy that rivaled Obama in 2008, and is loved by the youth who are iffy about you, the choice should be obvious.

[DINGO Joe]

Andrew Johnson

[Kyle Rittenhouse is a Political Prisoner]

2004 - Edwards was supposed to make some Deep South states competitive, but that didn't happen. Gephardt could have flipped states like MO, IA, and OH into the D column, thereby giving that party the victory.

Yeah, Edwards was truly a dumb pick.

For those of you who think Kaine was a mistake, who should Hillary have picked instead?  Brown?  Warren?  Sanders himself?

When your primary opponent is getting huge crowds, even bigger than Trump, small donations and activist energy that rivaled Obama in 2008, and is loved by the youth who are iffy about you, the choice should be obvious.

When your primary opponent has a grudge against you, wants to be president himself above all else, and has an oppo research file a foot thick, you pick anyone else.

[NCJeff]

If you evaluate a VP pick for electoral advantage, the above answers probably cover it.

If you evaluate a VP pick assuming that you have a ~50% chance of winning an election and then you'll hand that person power (either because the Vice President will have some sort of influence in the administration, or because you are setting them up to be President one day):
- Cheney exercised a lot of influence in Bush's administration, and to disastrous effect (the U.S. destabilized the entire Middle East for a decade and counting?).  The fact that he was sidelined in the second term suggests Bush might have regretted this pick and/or might not have pursued such a militaristic foreign policy had he had a different VP in place.
- Palin is obviously unfit for any sort of high office, so this one would take the cake.  A more careful evaluation of her would have probably revealed this.
- Edwards' megalomania also makes him a terrible pick, and what's worse is that Kerry probably knew Edwards well enough to know better.
- Agnew was a criminal

In this light you'd have to say Bush was a superb pick (since he was a highly competent president) and Lieberman and Kaine probably weren't so bad?

[darklordoftech]

Eagleton in 1972 takes the cake for biggest VP pick miscalculation.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Eagleton was obviously an epic fail.
Gore would have won Florida with Bob Graham.
Kaine, Palin, and Ferraro didn't seem to help.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Eagleton in 1972 takes the cake for biggest VP pick miscalculation.

[Podgy the Bear]

In my lifetime, selecting Joe Lieberman in 2000 did nothing for Gore.  And for those who say that he increased the Jewish vote for Gore in Florida, where did that go in Palm Beach County--to Pat Buchanan! (thanks to the butterfly ballot)

But I think that strategically, Richard Nixon's selection of Henry Cabot Lodge in 1960 was a big mistake in what turned out to be a close election.   Lodge didn't really help anywhere (in addition to losing Massachusetts, Nixon lost Connecticut as well). Nixon could have gone with a Midwestern candidate (Walter Judd of Minnesota was a serious contender) and this could have tipped states like Illinois, Missouri, and Minnesota--which Kennedy won by very slim margins.