Ticket balance
Encyclopedia
In United States
politics, balancing the ticket is when a political candidate chooses a running mate
with the goal of bringing more widespread appeal to the campaign. It is most prominently used to describe the selection of the U.S. Vice Presidential
candidate.
There are several means by which the ticket
may be balanced. Someone who is from a different region than the candidate may be chosen as a running mate to provide geographic balance to the ticket. If the candidate is associated with a specific faction of the party, a running mate from a competing faction may be chosen so as to unify the party. Similarly, running mates may be chosen to provide ideological, age, or demographic balance.
In U.S. presidential elections, balancing the ticket was traditionally associated with the smoke-filled room
cliché, but this changed in 1970 with reforms in the primary system resulting from the McGovern-Fraser Commission
. According to Douglas Kriner of Boston University, the McGovern-Fraser reforms brought an end to traditional ticket balancing practices. Now presidential candidates are less concerned with regional and ideological balance, says Kriner, and are more inclined to pick compatible running mates with extensive government experience. http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2008/03/25/72166256
and Vice-President were technically elected on the same ballot with the person receiving the most votes becoming the President and the person with the second most votes becoming the Vice-President. When this system proved unwieldy, the Twelfth Amendment
was passed in 1804 providing that the President and Vice-President run on the same ticket but be elected on different ballots.
Most elections before the American Civil War
featured a northerner paired with a southerner or vice versa.
After the Civil War, geographical balance between north and south became less critical but would remain a factor well into the 20th century, especially in the Democratic Party. In the 20th Century, an increased interest in the electoral college lead many presidential candidates to choose vice-presidential candidates from populous states with large numbers of electoral votes. It was hoped that voters in this state could be swayed by having a favorite son
on the ticket.
Later in the 20th century, ideological balance became more prominent with a very liberal or conservative presidential candidate often paired with a more moderate vice presidential candidate or vice versa to bring more widespread appeal. Other factors came to prominence in the late 20th century such as gender, religion, age and other issues.
The trend has continued in recent times, although it is less of a predictable science. In 1992, Bill Clinton
, seen as a more moderate southern Democrat, chose the more liberal southerner Al Gore
as his running mate. However, they were both white
Protestant southerners from the baby boom generation, and most political analysts saw them as similar in political ideology. This brought little in the way of ticket balancing.
In 2000, Al Gore chose the centrist Joseph Lieberman, a northeastern Jewish Democrat who had been one of the first people to criticize President Clinton for his scandal with Monica Lewinsky
. John Kerry
's choice of John Edwards
in the 2004 presidential election was widely seen as an appeal to southern voters who traditionally would not have supported a northeasterner such as Kerry without the geographic balance that Edwards could bring. Also, Edwards, still serving his first term in the Senate, was regarded by many as an "outsider" with a youthful appeal; two characteristics that Kerry, a 60 year old four term Senator, was unable to acquire.
of America are less inclined to support northeasterners and Californians without some sort of geographic balance and vice versa.
For example, in 1960, Richard Nixon
of California
chose Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
of
Massachusetts
as his running mate to blunt Kennedy's strength in New England. John F. Kennedy
of Massachusetts chose Texan
Lyndon Johnson to appeal to southern voters.
The United States Constitution
itself demands some balance, as Electoral College voters cannot vote for two people from their state. For example, if Dick Cheney
had not moved back to his home state of Wyoming
before the 2000 election the Electoral College voters from Texas would not have been able to vote for him as vice-president and thus the Senate would have picked one.
Ronald Reagan
, a conservative, chose more moderate George H. W. Bush
as his running mate in 1980. When liberal Democrat Michael Dukakis
ran for president in 1988 he chose Lloyd Bentsen
, a moderate, as his running mate. When centrist Republican John McCain
ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008, he chose Sarah Palin
, a staunch conservative, as his running mate.
's Tammany Hall
and refined by Chicago
Mayor Anton Cermak
in Chicago machine politics
, this involves nominating a slate of candidates for local offices based on their varied ethnic origins or
business or labor union interests, in order to appeal to all possible ethnic or financial interests in a community. E.g.: a slate of candidates of judge
s, might include candidates from all ethnic communities in a district, and include a labor lawyer and a member of the local Chamber of commerce
. In cases where there is not enough offices appeal to all, multi-ethnic candidates may be chosen, e.g.: "Maria O'Hara Constantine" a name calculated to appeal to Hispanic, Irish and Greek constituencies.
. In modern times, America is generally split along red state/blue state
lines, but these lines are not absolute. Key "blue states" like Pennsylvania
and Michigan
could be swayed to shift support toward a Republican candidate under the right conditions.
Likewise, key Presidential "red states" such as North Carolina
and West Virginia
may shift allegiances for the right ticket.
A favorite son
on the ticket from one of these states could garner enough support to swing it from one column to another.
make up for a perceived weakness by choosing a particular running mate.
Barack Obama
's selection of Joe Biden
as his Vice President is often considered a way to balance an extensive knowledge of economics and domestic policy (Obama) with a comparative knowledge of defense and foreign policy (Biden).
Walter Mondale's
selection of Geraldine Ferraro
in 1984 was widely seen as an appeal to female voters.
Older presidential candidates will sometimes chose younger, more vigorous candidates as their running mates. Mainly to garner younger voters who often see older candidates as "uncool" or "out of touch". George H. W. Bush was in his mid 60s when he chose the young and photogenic Dan Quayle
in 1988. Bob Dole
, who was in his 70s, chose former professional athlete Jack Kemp
in 1996. In 2008, John McCain
was 72 when he chose 44-year-old Sarah Palin
to run for Vice President.
George W. Bush
was considered a political novice and outsider when he chose Dick Cheney
, a consummate Washington insider
, as his running mate in 2000.
that the running mate brings to a campaign. Lyndon Johnson was chosen by Kennedy
not only because he was a southerner, but for other reasons as well. Johnson was
perceived at the time as being more conservative than Kennedy which balanced the
ticket ideologically. Johnson was likely to deliver Texas and its critical electoral votes to
the Democrats, something that Kennedy and a non Texan might not be able to
accomplish. Kennedy was a Catholic and his religion was a subtle but important issue,
especially in the largely Protestant Southern states. The fact that Johnson was a
Protestant helped the ticket’s appeal in the south. Kennedy was the son of a
multi-millionaire
Boston banker while Johnson came from more humble and rural
beginnings.
Even in circumstances where ticket balancing is not overt, there are subtle components
that are brought to the ticket. Even though Bill Clinton and Al Gore were both white Protestant southerners, Al Gore was a veteran of the Vietnam War
while Clinton was heavily criticized by Republicans because he "dodged
" the Vietnam era draft. Gore’s military record helped soften some of the criticism about Clinton’s ability to lead the military.
Although the concept of a running-mate is relatively specific to the United States, analogous patterns could be found in other countries. For example, in proportional representation
with party lists, parties will tend to make sure that a variety of factions within the party are represented in the list candidates. Some countries (such as Iraq
) enforce balance by legally requiring that a list contain a minimum number of female or ethnic minority candidates, or by requiring (such as Lebanon
) that vice presidents or prime ministers be of a different ethnic group than the president.
Balancing the ticket also refers to when a political organization such as the Chicago political machine
balances the interests of local business and ethnic groups by selecting nominees on its slate of candidates based on their ethnic origin or commercial interests.
Abraham Lincoln
's running mate, Andrew Johnson
, was a southerner who did not share values with the Radical Republicans, so Reconstruction started with Lincoln's point of view being expressed by a southern democrat. William McKinley
, an old school pro-business republican, was succeeded by the young, energetic Theodore Roosevelt
who actively championed anti-trust laws. Twice in the twentieth century there were vice presidents who followed the heritage of their departed presidents as well as one could expect. Harry S. Truman
continued Franklin Delano Roosevelt's policies, and Lyndon Baines Johnson accomplished more in the same general areas than John Fitzgerald Kennedy. In 2008, the selection of the ultra-conservative, inexperienced, Sarah Palin
by moderate respected senator John McCain
damaged the ticket, as people were concerned that the 72-year-old McCain might not live out his term.
from the U.S., all presidential tickets from major parties from 1935 to 1969 involved someone from Luzon
and some from either the Visayas
or Mindanao
, popularly known as the "North-South ticket." From the 1986 election onwards, this was abandoned.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politics, balancing the ticket is when a political candidate chooses a running mate
Running mate
A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position but can also properly be used when referring to both candidates, such as "Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen were...
with the goal of bringing more widespread appeal to the campaign. It is most prominently used to describe the selection of the U.S. Vice Presidential
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
candidate.
There are several means by which the ticket
Ticket (election)
A ticket refers to a single election choice which fills more than one political office or seat. For example, in the U.S., the candidates for President and Vice President run on the same "ticket", because they are elected together on a single ballot question rather than separately.A ticket can also...
may be balanced. Someone who is from a different region than the candidate may be chosen as a running mate to provide geographic balance to the ticket. If the candidate is associated with a specific faction of the party, a running mate from a competing faction may be chosen so as to unify the party. Similarly, running mates may be chosen to provide ideological, age, or demographic balance.
In U.S. presidential elections, balancing the ticket was traditionally associated with the smoke-filled room
Smoke-filled room
In U.S. political slang, a smoke-filled room is a term for a secret political gathering or round table style decision-making process. The phrase is generally used to suggest a cabal of powerful or well-connected, cigar-smoking men such as the Bilderberg group meeting privately to nominate a dark...
cliché, but this changed in 1970 with reforms in the primary system resulting from the McGovern-Fraser Commission
McGovern-Fraser Commission
The McGovern-Fraser Commission, formally known as Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection was a commission created in response to the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention. Soon after Richard Nixon's electoral victory, the 28-member commission was selected by Senator Fred R....
. According to Douglas Kriner of Boston University, the McGovern-Fraser reforms brought an end to traditional ticket balancing practices. Now presidential candidates are less concerned with regional and ideological balance, says Kriner, and are more inclined to pick compatible running mates with extensive government experience. http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2008/03/25/72166256
History
In the earliest days of American presidential elections, the PresidentPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
and Vice-President were technically elected on the same ballot with the person receiving the most votes becoming the President and the person with the second most votes becoming the Vice-President. When this system proved unwieldy, the Twelfth Amendment
Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the President and Vice President. It replaced Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, which provided the original procedure by which the Electoral College functioned. Problems with the original procedure arose in...
was passed in 1804 providing that the President and Vice-President run on the same ticket but be elected on different ballots.
Most elections before the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
featured a northerner paired with a southerner or vice versa.
After the Civil War, geographical balance between north and south became less critical but would remain a factor well into the 20th century, especially in the Democratic Party. In the 20th Century, an increased interest in the electoral college lead many presidential candidates to choose vice-presidential candidates from populous states with large numbers of electoral votes. It was hoped that voters in this state could be swayed by having a favorite son
Favorite son
A favorite son is a political term.*At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate...
on the ticket.
Later in the 20th century, ideological balance became more prominent with a very liberal or conservative presidential candidate often paired with a more moderate vice presidential candidate or vice versa to bring more widespread appeal. Other factors came to prominence in the late 20th century such as gender, religion, age and other issues.
The trend has continued in recent times, although it is less of a predictable science. In 1992, Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, seen as a more moderate southern Democrat, chose the more liberal southerner Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
as his running mate. However, they were both white
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
Protestant southerners from the baby boom generation, and most political analysts saw them as similar in political ideology. This brought little in the way of ticket balancing.
In 2000, Al Gore chose the centrist Joseph Lieberman, a northeastern Jewish Democrat who had been one of the first people to criticize President Clinton for his scandal with Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky
Monica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
. John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
's choice of John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
in the 2004 presidential election was widely seen as an appeal to southern voters who traditionally would not have supported a northeasterner such as Kerry without the geographic balance that Edwards could bring. Also, Edwards, still serving his first term in the Senate, was regarded by many as an "outsider" with a youthful appeal; two characteristics that Kerry, a 60 year old four term Senator, was unable to acquire.
Geographic balance
Geographic balance has played an important part of politics since the beginning. Before the civil war, a northern candidate was almost always paired with a southern running mate or vice-versa. Since the civil war, this level of geographical balancing is less critical, but still plays a big role. In modern times, voters in the south, midwest, and Rocky mountain regionMountain States
thumb|300px|Regional definitions vary from source to source. The states shown in dark red are always included, while the striped states are usually considered part of the same region called the Mountain States....
of America are less inclined to support northeasterners and Californians without some sort of geographic balance and vice versa.
For example, in 1960, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
chose Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. was a Republican United States Senator from Massachusetts and a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Holy See . He was the Republican nominee for Vice President in the 1960 Presidential election.-Early life:Lodge was born in Nahant,...
of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
as his running mate to blunt Kennedy's strength in New England. John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
of Massachusetts chose Texan
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Lyndon Johnson to appeal to southern voters.
The United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
itself demands some balance, as Electoral College voters cannot vote for two people from their state. For example, if Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
had not moved back to his home state of Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
before the 2000 election the Electoral College voters from Texas would not have been able to vote for him as vice-president and thus the Senate would have picked one.
Ideological balance
Ideological balance is achieved when a candidate chooses a running mate from a different ideological strain to provide more widespread appeal. For example, a liberal candidate might want to chose a moderate or even a conservative running mate rather than another liberal in order to appeal to a broader base of the electorate.Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, a conservative, chose more moderate George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
as his running mate in 1980. When liberal Democrat Michael Dukakis
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...
ran for president in 1988 he chose Lloyd Bentsen
Lloyd Bentsen
Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr. was a four-term United States senator from Texas and the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President in 1988 on the Michael Dukakis ticket. He also served in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1955. In his later political life, he was Chairman of the Senate...
, a moderate, as his running mate. When centrist Republican John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008, he chose Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
, a staunch conservative, as his running mate.
Ethnic or business interest balancing
A tactic originated by New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
and refined by Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
Mayor Anton Cermak
Anton Cermak
Anton Joseph Cermak was the mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1931 until his assassination by Giuseppe Zangara in 1933.-Early life and career:...
in Chicago machine politics
Cook County Democratic Organization
The Cook County Democratic Organization is one of the most powerful political machines in American history. Historically called the "Chicago Democratic machine", or simply the "Chicago Machine", the organization has dominated Chicago politics since the 1930s...
, this involves nominating a slate of candidates for local offices based on their varied ethnic origins or
business or labor union interests, in order to appeal to all possible ethnic or financial interests in a community. E.g.: a slate of candidates of judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s, might include candidates from all ethnic communities in a district, and include a labor lawyer and a member of the local Chamber of commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
. In cases where there is not enough offices appeal to all, multi-ethnic candidates may be chosen, e.g.: "Maria O'Hara Constantine" a name calculated to appeal to Hispanic, Irish and Greek constituencies.
Electoral College strategy
In elections which are expected to be close, great concern is placed an a running mate's ability to appeal to voters in key states with critical numbers of votes in the Electoral CollegeUnited States Electoral College
The Electoral College consists of the electors appointed by each state who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election...
. In modern times, America is generally split along red state/blue state
Red state vs. blue state divide
The terms red states and blue states came into use in 2000 to refer to those states of the United States whose residents predominantly vote for the Republican Party or Democratic Party presidential candidates, respectively. A blue state tends to vote for the Democratic Party, and a red state tends...
lines, but these lines are not absolute. Key "blue states" like Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
could be swayed to shift support toward a Republican candidate under the right conditions.
Likewise, key Presidential "red states" such as North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
may shift allegiances for the right ticket.
A favorite son
Favorite son
A favorite son is a political term.*At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate...
on the ticket from one of these states could garner enough support to swing it from one column to another.
Other factors
Sometimes candidates will try to appeal to a particular demographic group or will try tomake up for a perceived weakness by choosing a particular running mate.
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's selection of Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
as his Vice President is often considered a way to balance an extensive knowledge of economics and domestic policy (Obama) with a comparative knowledge of defense and foreign policy (Biden).
Walter Mondale's
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
selection of Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party....
in 1984 was widely seen as an appeal to female voters.
Older presidential candidates will sometimes chose younger, more vigorous candidates as their running mates. Mainly to garner younger voters who often see older candidates as "uncool" or "out of touch". George H. W. Bush was in his mid 60s when he chose the young and photogenic Dan Quayle
Dan Quayle
James Danforth "Dan" Quayle served as the 44th Vice President of the United States, serving with President George H. W. Bush . He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Indiana....
in 1988. Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
, who was in his 70s, chose former professional athlete Jack Kemp
Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp was an American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York's 31st...
in 1996. In 2008, John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
was 72 when he chose 44-year-old Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
to run for Vice President.
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
was considered a political novice and outsider when he chose Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
, a consummate Washington insider
Inside the Beltway
"Inside the Beltway" is a phrase used to characterize parts of the real or imagined American political system. The name refers to the Capital Beltway , a circumferential highway , completed in 1964, that encircles Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States.The phrase is commonly used to...
, as his running mate in 2000.
Synergy of traits
Most ticket balancing is not limited to a single issue but is a factor of the overall strengththat the running mate brings to a campaign. Lyndon Johnson was chosen by Kennedy
not only because he was a southerner, but for other reasons as well. Johnson was
perceived at the time as being more conservative than Kennedy which balanced the
ticket ideologically. Johnson was likely to deliver Texas and its critical electoral votes to
the Democrats, something that Kennedy and a non Texan might not be able to
accomplish. Kennedy was a Catholic and his religion was a subtle but important issue,
especially in the largely Protestant Southern states. The fact that Johnson was a
Protestant helped the ticket’s appeal in the south. Kennedy was the son of a
multi-millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
Boston banker while Johnson came from more humble and rural
beginnings.
Even in circumstances where ticket balancing is not overt, there are subtle components
that are brought to the ticket. Even though Bill Clinton and Al Gore were both white Protestant southerners, Al Gore was a veteran of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
while Clinton was heavily criticized by Republicans because he "dodged
Draft dodger
Draft evasion is a term that refers to an intentional failure to comply with the military conscription policies of the nation to which he or she is subject...
" the Vietnam era draft. Gore’s military record helped soften some of the criticism about Clinton’s ability to lead the military.
Other political races
In some states, the governor and the lieutenant governor are elected on the same ticket. In states that allow the governor to choose his running mate, he/she may choose a candidate that provides balance within the state just as in presidential politics. For example, a politician from an urban area may select a running mate from a rural area, or a male politician may select a female running mate.Although the concept of a running-mate is relatively specific to the United States, analogous patterns could be found in other countries. For example, in proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
with party lists, parties will tend to make sure that a variety of factions within the party are represented in the list candidates. Some countries (such as Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
) enforce balance by legally requiring that a list contain a minimum number of female or ethnic minority candidates, or by requiring (such as Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
) that vice presidents or prime ministers be of a different ethnic group than the president.
Balancing the ticket also refers to when a political organization such as the Chicago political machine
Cook County Democratic Organization
The Cook County Democratic Organization is one of the most powerful political machines in American history. Historically called the "Chicago Democratic machine", or simply the "Chicago Machine", the organization has dominated Chicago politics since the 1930s...
balances the interests of local business and ethnic groups by selecting nominees on its slate of candidates based on their ethnic origin or commercial interests.
Consequences of the death of a president
Elections have acquired much of the mass media publicity system used for entertainment, but a ticket is not a "buddy picture." Although the vice presidency has only rarely been an office with real political significance, several times American presidents have died in office, either through assassinations or natural causes. These conditions reveal the merits and failures of having a running mate to balance the ticket instead of calling a snap election, as other countries do.Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's running mate, Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
, was a southerner who did not share values with the Radical Republicans, so Reconstruction started with Lincoln's point of view being expressed by a southern democrat. William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
, an old school pro-business republican, was succeeded by the young, energetic Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
who actively championed anti-trust laws. Twice in the twentieth century there were vice presidents who followed the heritage of their departed presidents as well as one could expect. Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
continued Franklin Delano Roosevelt's policies, and Lyndon Baines Johnson accomplished more in the same general areas than John Fitzgerald Kennedy. In 2008, the selection of the ultra-conservative, inexperienced, Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
by moderate respected senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
damaged the ticket, as people were concerned that the 72-year-old McCain might not live out his term.
Use in the Philippines
In the Philippines, which had derived the presidential systemPresidential system
A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, to which it is not responsible and which cannot, in normal circumstances, dismiss it....
from the U.S., all presidential tickets from major parties from 1935 to 1969 involved someone from Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
and some from either the Visayas
Visayas
The Visayas or Visayan Islands and locally known as Kabisay-an gid, is one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Mindanao and Luzon. It consists of several islands, primarily surrounding the Visayan Sea, although the Visayas are considered the northeast...
or Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
, popularly known as the "North-South ticket." From the 1986 election onwards, this was abandoned.