Would John Edwards want the Vice-Presidency in return for playing kingmaker in the Democratic primaries? Perhaps not. After all George HW Bush is the only sitting 20th century Veep to have reached the top job absent assassination, death by natural causes* or the boss being forced from office (Nixon of course was defeated in 1960, but being Veep didn’t harm him). Megan asks:
The VP slot seems to be a lot less important than it used to be. Thoughts on why this is?
The obvious answer is that the Vice-Presidency has rarely been very important but that, contra the idea that it is a graveyard post, it is probably more important now than it has ever been and, subject to certain circumstances, a better springboard for the top job than it has been before.
After all, if Al Gore hadn’t been such an ass he’d have won a decisive victory in 2000.
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