SPIRO WHO? DJ WHO? TIM WHO?

By Edwin Cooney

To the disgust of most Trumpites and perhaps to the happy shock of many Democrats, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, her newly minted Minnesota running mate, appear to have gone from the politically lonely to potential popularity since that July Sunday when "Elderly Joe” announced he was stepping aside in favor of his then beleaguered vice president. Even more likely is that the Harris/Walz ticket, unless they stumble during their convention, may well benefit from the political bounce many newly nominated candidates experience at the close of their party's public business.

Governor Walz' biggest weakness appears to be that because Minnesota doesn't equal Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin Nevada, and Arizona as key electoral college states, many will insist that DJ Vance, because he represents Ohio, almost automatically a “Trump state,” will be more helpful to the former president than Walz may be to Vice President Harris.

Of course, mere speculation can be worthless, but history does bring forth significant past political realities.

In 1948, Thomas Dewey and Earl Warren represented mighty New York State and California in the electoral college. President Truman named  Kentucky Senator and Senate Minority Leader Alben Barkley for Vice President thus representing Missouri and Kentucky. A brilliant orator and storyteller, Barkley, during his keynote speech to the convention, defined a bureaucrat as "a Democrat who holds an office some Republican wants." The Truman/Barkley ticket, although surrendering New York to Dewey, snatched California away from Governor Warren. However, President Truman demonstrated true political mastery by calling the GOP Congress back into special session forcing it to demonstrate that it both couldn't and wouldn't support social legislation promised in its platform.

In 1952, Richard Nixon represented both youth and the anti-Communism movement emphasized by Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. Additionally, at age 39, the second youngest Vice  Presidential candidate in history, Nixon had a beautiful wife who only wore "respectable Republican cloth coats rather than mink coats.” He was lawyer and debater enough to turn a gift of a dog named Checkers to his two little girls into a pretty national political asset.

In 1956, Adlai Stevenson dropped his 1952 VP choice, Alabama Senator John Sparkman, and invited convention delegates to select their own vice presidential candidate. They selected Estes Kefauver of Tennessee over young Jack Kennedy of Massachusetts.

In 1960, Vice President Nixon chose U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge as his running mate, not because he was any part of the Boston Brahmin set, but because Lodge represented respectable Eisenhower diplomacy.  JFK chose Lyndon B. Johnson because he was running for two offices in his beloved Texas. He is the only man in American history to run for re-election to the United States Senate and for Vice President simultaneously.  Historians generally agree that LBJ is likely the only Vice Presidential candidate to have made a difference in the electoral outcome.

In 1964, William E. Miller's Catholic faith and partisan oratory made him Barry Goldwater's running mate. Hubert H. Humphrey, a civil rights champion and President Johnson's former Senate colleague was raised to the second highest officer in the land by LBJ personally.

In 1968, Maryland Governor Spiro T. Agnew had announced to the world that he'd be supporting New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller for president and lined up his supporters to listen to Rockefeller's announcement of his candidacy. However, when Rockefeller announced he wouldn't seek the nomination, Agnew turned against Rockefeller and proceeded to bring his real anti-liberal outlook into the “Nixon for President” camp. “Spiro Who” became "outspoken candidate” and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.

Mild, elegant Edmund Muskie as Hubert Humphrey's 1968 running mate, impressed so many voters by the end of the campaign that millions of Americans appeared to champion a 1972 Muskie  presidential candidacy over even Hubert's possible effort.

Abandoned by many usual Democratic constituencies in 1972, George McGovern chose as his running mate Senator Tom Eagleton who did have good relations with traditional Democrats. However, within almost days of his nomination his struggles with depression and other nervous conditions forced McGovern to shift from a one thousand percent position of support to no support at all. Eagleton's successor turned out to be Sergeant Shriver, representing the Kennedy family's party prominence.

Jimmy "who?" Carter and Walter Fritz Mondale as "Grits and Fritz" were very compatible, but Ford and Robert Dole, Ford's VIP choice, sufficiently muddled their message to come in second to the Georgian and the Minnesotan during the Bicentennial year.

In July of 1980, some GOP leaders were sufficiently concerned about nominee Ronald Reagan's lack of foreign policy experience that he might need to require the services of former President Gerald Ford. However, it became clear during a joint meeting between the two men that merging the two offices would neither be practical nor desirable. Thus, George H. W. Bush received a late night call to service. He accepted and the rest is history.

James Danforth (Dan) Quayle was chosen for second place ins 1988 by presidential candidate George H. W. Bush because Quayle was neither Robert or Elizabeth Dole who might well challenge President Bush for re-election in 1992. Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis's choice of Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen was so popular that by the end of the campaign many were sorry that a winning ticket of Bush and Bentsen would be unconstitutional under the Twelfth Amendment..

Bill Clinton and Al Gore were very compatible until President Clinton's personal conduct became most questionable in 1998. The distance both Vice President and Tipper Gore established between the couples, many believe, cost Gore the presidency in 2000 even more than hanging chads in Florida cost the Gores. In 2000, Richard Bruce Cheney had to move back home to Wyoming to comply with that Twelfth Amendment which prohibits presidential and vice presidential candidates to come from the same state even if that state is Texas!

In 2004, it couldn't be said that John Edwards vice presidential candidacy hurt John Kerry's presidential candidacy very much, but Dick Cheney's debate with John Edwards helped President Bush's re-election effort.

In 1984, Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro and in 2008 John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as their potential vice presidents. Mondale would have been better off had he chosen San Francisco Mayor Diane Feinstein and 24 years later McCain would have been better off had he chosen Joseph Lieberman, Al Gore's 2000 Vice Presidential candidate, but neither candidate made those choices. Thus, the Mondale and McCain presidencies are forever imaginary!

The Obama Biden team lasted eight years and even outshone the Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan team in 2012.

Stunningly, the Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine 2016 ticket stumbled and bumbled its way toward high office thus allowing Trump and Mike Pence to prevail.

As for the 2020 campaign, we're still in it since former President Trump insists it was stolen. However, Joe Biden's Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris helped more than she hurt and thus she and Tim Walz of Minnesota may well prevail this fall.

Of course, much will depend on Trump's and Harris's attitudes and moods this fall. If Harris duplicates Hillary Clinton's contempt and indifference towards even some potential constituents, she's in trouble. However, to the degree that she comes off knowledgable, reflective regarding her mistakes, and above all likable, she and Tim Walz will prevail. Walz may in fact not be of electoral benefit but his substance and likability may enable him to rake in the votes come November 5th, 2024.

One of the lessons great orators know is that if they press issues too often or stridently, they lose their appeal to the public. What few seem to realize is that in 2020, no other Republican loser complained that they'd been cheated out of political office.

As for 2024, no excuses, not even the electoral college is acceptable. It's all really up to you and me!

I assert that next January 20th, Kamala Harris and Tim Walls will be President and Vice President respectively!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY