Strange Duty of VP Presidential Candidates

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris certified the 2024 election in favor of her opponent, Donald Trump.  She is not the first vice president to have that uncomfortable duty.  Al Gore certified the 2000 election - in which he won the popular vote - for George W Bush.  Hubert Humphrey certified Richard Nixon's 1968 victory.  Nixon could sympathize with Humphrey, having been in the same position in 1960, when he certified his defeat against John F Kennedy.  One has to go back a century to find another sitting VP and failed presidential candidate announcing his opponent's victory.  John C Breckinridge was James Buchanan's VP.  He was one of 3 candidates opposing Lincoln and placed 2nd in the electoral college.  In February 1861, he announced that "Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, having received a majority of the whole number of electoral votes, is elected President."  He then joined the Confederacy to oppose Lincoln in a less civilized fashion.

By contrast, only two VPs have had the joyous opportunity to preside over a victory.  VP George Bush certified his victory in the 1988 election.  Prior to him, one has to go back to Martin Van Buren who won the 1836 election as Andrew Jackson's VP.

The remaining two men who jumped directly from VP to presidency did so prior to the 12th Amendment.  As Washington's VP, John Adams was elected in 1796, but his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, won the vice-presidency.  The awkwardness of having the president and VP from rival parties brought about the 12th Amendment so that - generally - each party put up their picks for each office.  Thus, in 1800, Adams and Jefferson had a rematch but selected VP candidates; Aaron Burr for Jefferson and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney for Adams.  The Jefferson-Burr ticket won, but both had identical electoral vote totals.  Now Burr argued that he had just as much right to be president as Jefferson.  This triggered a contingent election where the House had to choose, thus denying Jefferson the opportunity to announce his victory.

Three Time Nominee

Generally speaking, politicians only win the nomination for president one or two times.  Parties normally only nominate the politician for a 2nd time if he is the incumbent.  To take examples from recent years, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump were each nominated for 2nd terms while Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bob Dole, Al Gore, John Kerry, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Hillary Clinton were not renominated.  The winners get a second shot while the losers are usually tossed aside.  Of course, there are exceptions.  Sometimes the loser is given a second chance.  For instance, Adlai Stevenson lost to Eisenhower in 1952, but was nominated again in 1956; he lost again.  In a couple of cases, there have been three-time losers: both Henry Clay & William Jennings Bryan were nominees in 3 separate elections.

Looking only at men who served as president, how many of them were nominated on three separate occasions?

Thomas Jefferson was the Democratic-Republican nominee for president in 1796, 1800, and 1804.  He came in second place in 1796, which secured him the vice presidency.  He won the presidency in 1800 and was nominated for re-election in 1804.

Andrew Jackson was one of four Democratic-Republican nominees in 1824.  Though he won the plurality of electoral votes and popular vote, he lost to John Quincy Adams in the contingent election.  He was the Democratic nominee (the Democratic-Republican party had split into factions after the 1824 debacle) in both 1828 and 1832.

Martin Van Buren was Andrew Jackson's chosen successor.  He won in 1836 and was renominated in 1840.  Though he lost in 1840, he became the Free-Soil Party candidate in 1848, marking his 3rd time running in the general election.

Grover Cleveland ran for office in 1884 and won.  However, when he ran for re-election in 1888, he lost to Benjamin Harrison.  He secured the Democratic nomination again in 1892 and won.  He was the first president to serve non-consecutive terms.

Richard Nixon ran for president in 1960.  He lost to JFK.  However, he managed to win the nomination again in 1968 and went on to win the presidency.  He won re-election in 1972, though he didn't finish his term.

Donald Trump duplicated Grover Cleveland's feat.  He won in 2016, lost his 2020 re-election bid, but then came back to win in 2024.

Of this group, Jefferson, Jackson, Cleveland, and Trump were nominees in three consecutive elections.

Presidential Rankings - The Bad Ones

To fall under the 'somewhat negative' category, Graboyes states that the president "governed badly, had serious personal failings, or both."

John Quincy Adams: A great man who rose to his highest level of incompetence.

Martin Van Buren: A fixer who was not suited to the top role.  Helpless against the Panic of 1837 that was the hangover of the Jackson years.

Lyndon Banes Johnson: One of the most skilled and competent presidents ever but his policies have left lasting damage, notably Medicare and Medicaid.  No personal ethics.  His handling of Vietnam.

Richard Nixon: Competent and skilled, he resolved LBJ's Vietnam disaster and established relations with China.  However, he embraced bad economic policies (price controls) and destroyed his presidency by his actions regarding Watergate.

Gerald Ford: Creditable job of post-Watergate leadership.  Bad foreign policy and economic policies.

Bill Clinton: Though he had the makings of a somewhat positive president with his political skills, moderated views, charming demeanor, and strong intellect, he poisoned it with his sexual scandals, financial shenanigans, perjury, and unpardonable pardons.

Barack Obama: Ended NASA monopoly on space which allowed SpaceX to flourish, took out bin Laden.  His embrace of racial division, frequent attacks on his predecessor, and beneficial treatment of Iran were harmful.  He created a cult of personality that his party has yet to overcome.

Donald Trump: Despite a long list of impressive accomplishments (Abraham Accords, Jerusalem embassy, smashing ISIS, energy independence, end of the Iran Deal, the COVID vaccine, roaring economy, low unemployment - notably for blacks and Hispanics, border enforcement, Space Force, and Judicial appointments), Trump more than offset it with his verbal diarrhea and J6 catastrophe.

Joe Biden: He reversed most of the positives of the Trump administration.  The end of energy independence once again filled the coffers of adversaries: Russia & Iran. Iran financed Hamas (October 7 attack in Israel and the latest Gaza War), Hezbollah, and the Houthis (Red Sea conflict).  Inflation.  Open border, mobs at homes of the Supreme Court, obvious signs of dementia.

Mostly, I'll agree.  He's a bit hard on Martin Van Buren.  He had some foreign policy successes that determined the borders of the United States and Canada, but that Panic of 1837 really sank him.  The Amistad was just a footnote.  Nixon established the imperial presidency, seeking to create executive positions that duplicated the Cabinet in order to expand those protected by executive privilege.  Given how many positives he lists for Trump, the negatives must really weigh a lot in his estimation.

Only Living President

As of this writing, there is one sitting president and 5 ex-presidents: President Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.  There have never been more than 5 living ex-presidents.  One supposes that after George Washington, the following presidents always had a predecessor enjoying his retirement.  In fact, no.  Several presidents have been the only living president during their presidency.

George Washington (1789-1797): As the first president, Washington had no predecessors to consult in the difficult times.  It was up to him to establish how Article 2 of the Constitution would work.  For nearly 8 years, he was the only living president.

John Adams (1797-1801): Having been Washington's VP, Adams knew his predecessor fairly well.  He even called upon Washington to lead an army during the Whiskey Rebellion.  However, Washington died in December 1799, leaving John Adams as the only living president.  He did not win re-election the following year, so his tenure as the only living president was only 1 year and 4 months.

Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877): When Grant began his presidency in March 1869, there were 3 ex-presidents: Millard Filmore, Franklin Pierce, and Andrew Johnson.  Pierce died in October 1869, Filmore in January 1874, and Johnson on July 31, 1875.  For the next year and 8 months, Grant was the only living president.

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909): Theodore took office upon the assassination of McKinley.  At that time, only 1 previous president was still living: Grover Cleveland.  When Cleveland died on June 24, 1908, Roosevelt was the only living president.  Eight months later, Roosevelt left office.

Herbert Hoover (1929-1933): When Hoover came to office, former President Taft was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Calvin Coolidge retired to Massachusetts.  Taft died in 1930 and Coolidge died on January 5, 1933.  Hoover was the only living president for 2 months.

Richard Nixon (1969-1974): Nixon took office when there were 3 living former presidents.  Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson.  Eisenhower died a couple of months after Nixon was inaugurated in 1969.  Truman died in December 1972 and Johnson died a month later, January 22, 1973.  Richard Nixon was the only living president for the next 18 months, at which time he resigned.

Since 1981, there have been 3 to 5 living former presidents.

Good Old Joe

Sometimes, politicians say stupid things.  It's inevitable.  If you talk for hours and days on end, there will be time when you get tongue-tied or speak before you think.  Of course, these verbal blunders can haunt politicians.

 

"I'm not a crook" President Richard Nixon

 

"I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" President Bill Clinton

 

"I'm not a witch" Christine O'Donnell, Republican Tea Party Candidate for Senate in 2010

 

"I want to be clear, I'm not going nuts."  Former VP Joe Biden, Presidential Candidate

 

That one is going to show up in a campaign ad before too long.  Joe may not be going nuts but senile is another matter.  Joe once explained how FDR got on TV in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash.  Then there is his recent proclamation that he chooses "Truth over facts."  Though he has been in the lead since he announced, I suspect Joe isn't going to make it far in the primaries.

Transparency!

Who knew that the reason this was going to be "the most transparent administration in history" would be proved correct thanks to computer hackers and FBI probes?  It turns out that though President Obama claimed to learn about the private server the same time as everyone else, he had exchanged emails - using a pseudonym - with Hillary using her non-state department email address.  I will grant that it is possible someone else program her address into his account and he never saw the actual address.  However, whoever did put that email address in the president's contacts list should have sounded an alarm when the email didn't end in .gov.

 

As for the argument that emails between Obama and Clinton should not be subject to FOIA requests on account executive privilege, that strikes me as a weak argument.  If emails sent between the White House and the State Department are to be covered by executive privilege, why not the entirety of the audio tapes recorded entirely within the Oval Office of the Nixon White House?  Executive privilege expands and contracts depending on which party is in the White House.

 

Edward Snowden, Wikileaks, DC Leaks, Guccifer and others have all contributed tremendously to the transparency of both the Obama Administration and the DNC.  Of course, this transparency is achieved because the administration is very bad at protecting secure information.  If there is a Cyber Cold War in progress, it sure looks like we are getting stomped.

Hamstringing a Future Presidential Run

In his speech tonight, Senator Ted Cruz failed to endorse his party's nominee, Donald Trump.  Instead, he said vote your conscience.  No matter the justifications, that is petty.  Such an open display of disunity and a failure to support the person the voters chose is a political blunder.  Very early in the primary season, the Republican candidates were asked if they would support the eventual nominee.  The whole purpose of that question was to prevent Trump from going rogue.  JEB, Cruz, Rubio, et al. said they would support the nominee, whoever it was.  Where are they now?

Let us suppose that Trump loses and Cruz runs in 2020.  Has he given a speech that will draw the voters to him?  No.  He has disrespected their choice and expects them to choose more wisely next time around.  Even those who voted for him might find this off putting.  He could have learned some political maneuvering from Richard Nixon.  Nixon went all in for Barry Goldwater in 1964.  Though Nixon was no where near as conservative as Goldwater, the Goldwater voters remembered his loyalty to the party.  Nixon won the nomination and the presidency in 1968.

Ideologically speaking, Cruz is probably closest to me.  If he gets some sense, he will stump for Trump during the campaign and make an appearance with Trump to undo this political faux pas.  It is not necessary to like your party's nominee but it is a requirement to support him.  The Bush wing of the party is notably absent but, as JEB's fabulous showing demonstrates, that wing is almost dead.  Don't go down that path, Ted.  Even if the quarterback is a jerk, be a team player.