Walz > Vance

Obvi.

I can’t predict the future but I can tell you what has happened in the past: Popular, unifying vice-presidential candidates can help presidential candidates. Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor whom Vice President Harris has appointed as her running mate has already charmed voters who are unfamiliar with him...which is most of us. 

It can also, as we’ve already seen with JD Vance, a VP pick can also hurt a candidate.

In 1960, Dwight Eisenhower was asked what Richard Nixon, the presidential hopeful, had contributed to his administration. “If you give me a week, I might think of one,” he said. “I don’t remember.” In 1952, Richard Nixon was an exciting addition. In the early 1950s, he was famous for prosecuting suspected communists and investigating Alger Hiss for the House Un-American Activities Committee, but they didn't mesh well. Eisenhower attempted to replace him, as many suggest Trump should do with Vance. 

Do VPs matter? "My country has in its wisdom contrived for me," John Adams told his wife, after settling into the role of vice president, "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived." That was true for Adams, who George Washington cut out early on (for more on that, see my biography on Washington), as well as many others, but the choice is consequential for the American people. 

The "unifying" candidate Abraham Lincoln chose was Andrew Johnson, but he proved resistant to compromise–and reality. He was also racist who poured salt in the wounds of the war, extending the period of national strife. And of course, his commitment to obstructing political and civil rights for blacks is legend. He’s mostly to blame for the failure of Reconstruction. 

A VP pick's excitement usually diminishes by November, but that's not far away. In the meantime, Vance continues to receive negative attention for, well, being Vance.  A debate between Walz and Vance will be decisive--and very fun to watch. 

[SOMEHOW] ON A RELATED NOTE

I’d like to think that Christopher Guest is behind RFK Jr.’s campaign. At this point, I see no other option. 

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