KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE -- As Joe Biden seeks a second presidential term, his time as vice president shows how the office can be a springboard to the presidency. -- Former Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, is learning that the vice presidency may not be an advantage in seeking...
Dear Readers: In advance of tonight's vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, we are pleased to feature a debate preview from our friend Joel Goldstein, one of the nation's leading experts on the vice presidency. Joel looks back on the history of vice presidential debates and points...
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE -- Joe Biden’s vice presidential search was the longest in modern history, and it involved an unusually large and diverse list of contenders. -- Yet Biden’s eventual choice was also conventional in that he selected a sitting senator -- common for modern Democrats -- and...
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE -- As Joe Biden zeroes in on his VP options, there are some myths about the choice that are worth exploring. -- The pick does in fact matter, or at least it has historically, and whoever is chosen won’t be picked for just one reason,...
Dear Readers: Please join us today (Tuesday, April 7) at 3:30 p.m. eastern for a conversation between ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl and University of Virginia Center for Politics Director Larry J. Sabato. They will be discussing Karl’s new book, Front Row at the Trump Show, which...
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE -- Like clockwork, three vice presidential hypotheticals emerge around this time every four years. -- The three possibilities are a sitting president replacing the current vice president with a new running mate; a nominee picking a running mate from the opposite party; and a former...
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE -- The history of vice presidential selection suggests some overarching trends that will guide the eventual Democratic nominee’s selection. -- One piece of history stands out: Presidential nominees often, though not always, opt for a running mate who was not a candidate for the nomination....
Editor’s Note: The Crystal Ball will be away for the University of Virginia’s spring break next week. We’ll return on Thursday, March 21. We’re pleased this week to welcome back to the Crystal Ball Joel Goldstein, perhaps the nation’s leading expert on the vice presidency. Joel challenges the notion...
Dear Readers: As Donald Trump reportedly prepares to announce a running mate next week and Hillary Clinton, dealing with the aftereffects of FBI Director James Comey’s announcement regarding her email scandal, ponders her choice as well, we again welcome Prof. Joel Goldstein to weigh in on the veepstakes. Goldstein is...
Now that the nominations of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump appear inevitable, attention turns, as it always does at this time, to the vice presidential selections. This year presents the fifth time in 40 years that both parties will select new running mates. Although Trump’s recent victories have eliminated the...
Although the presidential races in both parties have not been resolved, speculation has already begun regarding vice presidential nominees. Whereas John Kasich and Ted Cruz, like almost every other presidential candidate historically, dismiss any interest in the vice presidency, Ben Carson won’t rule out being Donald Trump’s vice president, Cruz’s...
“Where do vice presidential candidates come from?” If this year is like other leap years, that’s the question some precocious political strategists and presidential candidates will ask this spring. History reveals certain patterns, but it also suggests that the past is an imperfect guide. Even in relatively normal election years,...
Dear Readers: We have long suggested that one factor in the GOP’s favor in the 2016 presidential sweepstakes is a party’s difficulty in winning a third consecutive White House term. But there is another way to look at the subject that does not make the third-term hurdle seem so daunting,...
If history is a guide, the 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate won’t be designated for almost 27 months. That reality didn’t prevent vice presidential speculation from breaking out in a big way in response to President Obama’s recent nomination of San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to be Secretary of Housing...
There is a longstanding belief that the vice presidency is a poor launching pad for a presidential candidacy. The argument invariably notes that few sitting vice presidents have been elected president and points out the obstacles the second office places before those who mount presidential campaigns. The distinguished historian Julian...
