Mitt Romney is in the process of vetting and deciding who will be filling out the second half of his ticket. Here are ten historically bad running mates who possess qualities Mitt Romney should avoid. NOTE: The ten figures on this list are not presented in any specific order.
Thomas Eagleton
Thomas Eagleton was briefly the running mate of George McGovern in 1972. Facing a massive uphill battle to defeat Richard Nixon, many of the largest names in the Democratic Party, including cluding Ted Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey, and Birch Bayh declined to be on the ticket. As McGovern searched for a running mate, he eventually settled on Tom Eagleton, which ended up being the first of a series of disastrous mistakes made by the McGovern campaign.
Before Eagleton was selected as McGovern's running mate, he had anonymously given a quote to Robert Novak stating "The people dont know McGovern is for amnesty, abortion and legalization of pot." Nevertheless, Eagleton wasn't revealed as the source of the quote until after his death, though he knew at the time that it would be costly for his political career should the quote be revealed.
Shortly after Eagleton was selected, it was revealed that he was on Thorazine, a powerful anti-psychotic medicine, and the prescription was written under his wife's name. Eventually, McGovern discovered that Eagleton's records contained references to "manic depression" and "suicidal tendencies." After initially stating his "1000 percent support" of Eagleton, he later asked Eagleton to resign from the ticket.
Despite polling that showed that most Americans would not be swayed by Eagleton's condition, the press made frequent references to 'shock therapy', and McGovern felt it would distract from the platform. However, the damage had already been done. Republicans used the scandal to question McGovern's decision making, and McGovern only carried 17 electoral votes, and suffered the largest popular vote defeat in American history. Eagleton, on the other hand, was elected to two additional terms in the United States senate before retiring.
Source: media
John Edwards
To be fair to John Kerry, Edwards is really only a bad pick in retrospect. Recall that the Kerry campaign had tried to convince John McCain, a Republican, to come on board as Kerry's running mate following a poll that showed a Kerry/McCain ticket with a substantial lead over Bush/Chaney. Kerry also lost Gov. Bill Richardson, who was another frontrunner for the position, and eventually settled on John Edwards.
Kerry eventually came to regret the decision, and stated he wished he had never picked Edwards. The two stopped speaking to each other after the campaign ended. Later, Edwards political career would dissolve after it was revealed that he had an extramarital affair with former campaign worker Rielle Hunter while his wife was receiving treatment for breast cancer. While he denied it at first, it was eventually revealed that Edwards had fathered a child with Hunter. Elizabeth Edwards, John's wife, separated from him and intended to file for divorce. Elizabeth died on December 7, 2010.
Source: fitsnews.com
John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun has the distinction of not only being a two-time awful running mate, but also a two-time awful Vice President. Calhoun, who had previously been a nationalist, became disillusioned when he served under John Quincy Adams. He began to actively oppose the interests of President Adams. By the end of Adams term, Calhoun had joined the ticket of Adams' opponent, Andrew Jackson, who was elected President.
But things didn't get any better under Jackson. Calhoun developed a rift with President Jackson shortly after taking office after a disagreement over tariff policy. Calhoun and Jackson eventually came to heads during the Petticoat affair, when Calhoun and his wife actively opposed the marriage of Peggy Timberlake to Senator John Eaton, as Peggy's husband had very recently passed away. The scandal eventually led to the resignation of much of President Jackson's cabinet.
Calhoun also developed the theory of nullification, which is a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional. While the theory has never been upheld, it was cited by secessionists in the South during the Civil War and remains a part of the national conversation to this very day.
Source: biography.com
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Ferraro was the running mate of Walter Mondale in 1984 in what can only be described as the least successful Presidential campaign from a major political party in American history. Ferraro was selected after there was a considerable push from womens groups to announce a female running mate, and Mondale selected Ferraro. Ferraro was in her third term as a member of the House of Representatives, and was relatively inexperienced for the position, especially when compared to George H. W. Bush, her opponent.
Ferraro faced intense scrutiny from the media, often being asked if she was tough enough for the position. While her nomination was considered a watershed moment, women in America did not respond with the enthusiasm that the Mondale campaign had expected.
Ferraro's inexperience on a national scale continued to harm the campaign when issues involving her tax returns being separate from her husband's were revealed. For the first time in history, the vetting of a husband rather than a wife of a candidate was taking place, and it raised new challenges that Ferraro, in retrospect, was not ready to handle. When she announced that her husband would not be releasing his tax returns, she joked "You people who are married to Italian men, you know what it's like," which played to stereotypes and angered some in the Italian-American community.
This caused a media firestorm, as there was now intense scrutiny onto Ferraro's finances, and the right viewed the issue as something they could attack Ferraro on without accusations of sexism. A week later they released her husband's tax returns, but the damage was already done. In the end, Reagan won 55% of women voters and also achieved the highest number of Catholic voters for a Republican candidate at that time, despite Ferraro's faith.
Source: blogs.state.gov
