Choosing a Running Mate: Why Things Sometimes Go Wrong

Few would question that Ronald Reagan was a more consequential president than Jimmy Carter. But as a presidential candidate in 1976, Carter made a precedent-setting decision to make his choice of a running mate the careful product of a thoughtful process, setting the stage not just for victory in November but also for making his vice president, Walter Mondale a major figure in his administration. In contrast Reagan, seeking the Republican nomination in that same election, made a decision concerning his preferred vice presidential candidate that until Ted Cruz revived the practice last month has been followed by exactly no one. Reagan announced in advance of the GOP convention that his running mate would be Richard Schweiker, a liberal Republican senator from Pennsylvania. Like Cruz’s choice of Carly Fiorina, Reagan’s was a desperation move that confirmed rather than reversed the weakness of his candidacy for the Republican nomination. Not just Reagan and Cruz, who were trailing when they made their bad vice presidential decisions, but some actual recent nominees have done so. How come? Here are the three main reasons