Post your 2016 VP candidate predictions here

I thought Bernie was the natural choice, but Clinton can scare Democrats who don't like her to vote against Trump. Heinlein said once voting is essential. While there may not be a candidate you want to vote for, there surely is one you want to vote against. Bernie has little appeal outside the Democratic base.

Quote: Nareed

Bernie has little appeal outside the Democratic base.

Bernie supporters are extremely unlikely to vote for Trump. In a similar manner Cruz supporters are extremely unlikely to vote for Hillary. The only advantage to picking them as VP choice is to keep people from staying home in a funk.

But it's more important to help bring in the swing vote. Rubio would be better at that than Cruz. I don't think Christie will do that. He will receive a reward with some lesser position.

Nikki Haley (born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa; age 44) endorsed fellow Republican Marco Rubio. After Rubio suspended his campaign on March 15, she subsequently endorsed Ted Cruz for President. She would bring some appeal to the ticket, if she agreed to run.

Quote: ams288

At this point, the question regarding Trump's VP isn't "Who will he pick?" so much as "Who would actually agree to run with him?"

I would think there is a stronger possibility of Trump resigning or being impeached compared to most recent Presidents. Gerald Ford was VP for only 35 weeks, then he got to be POTUS for 895 days.

While not a historic length of time in office, he still beat out four presidents who died in their first term.

Warren G. Harding 881 days
Zachary Taylor 492 days
James A. Garfield 199 days (assassinated)
William Henry Harrison 31 days

Quote: Pacomartin

Bernie supporters are extremely unlikely to vote for Trump. In a similar manner Cruz supporters are extremely unlikely to vote for Hillary. The only advantage to picking them as VP choice is to keep people from staying home in a funk.

IMO, more of Bernie's supporters are scared to death of a Prez Trump than Cruz's supporters are of a third Bill Clinton term (that's how many think of it).

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I would think there is a stronger possibility of Trump resigning or being impeached compared to most recent Presidents.

I'd be amazed if he doesn't do something disastrous in the proverbial first 100 days.

Andrew Johnson was impeached for the violation of the Tenure of Office Act, passed by Congress the previous year. Specifically, he had removed Edwin McMasters Stanton, the Secretary of War (whom the Tenure of Office Act was largely designed to protect), from office and attempted to replace him with Brevet Major General Lorenzo Thomas. Johnson had been POTUS for 2.8 years and only had a year left in his Presidency. He was acquitted by one Senatorial vote.

Quote: Nareed

I'd be amazed if he doesn't do something disastrous in the proverbial first 100 days.

Trump is very likely to do something that will not be seen as legal by the opposition. I would consider it almost impossible for them not to discuss impeachment at some point.

I haven't thought about it much but here are my guesses.

Trump: Scott Walker. I think he should pick somebody the opposite of him -- a pragmatist who is low on charisma. Plus Walker is from a battleground state. Second choice would be my own Brian Sandoval, but as a Latino I don't think he would even shake Trump's hand at this point.

Clinton: Martin O'Malley. I mainly pick him because he was the mayor of Baltimore, where I lived before here, and because I can't think of anybody better. Elizabeth Warren gets tossed around a lot but I think she will look like she is playing the gender card too much with that pick. Personally, I'd love to see her pick Bill, but I can't see them working closely together.

Quote: Wizard

Second choice would be my own Brian Sandoval, but as a Latino I don't think he would even shake Trump's hand at this point.

I'd pay money to see Trump pick a Hispanic running mate ;)

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Clinton: Martin O'Malley.

Oh, no. You don't want someone who's grown irrelevant before the election.

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Personally, I'd love to see her pick Bill, but I can't see them working closely together.

If she does she loses the election.

Well, maybe not this year because the Orange clown is the other choice. But, really, if she picks Bill she may as well issue a decree for her coronation.

Quote: Wizard

Personally, I'd love to see her pick Bill, but I can't see them working closely together.

Although the 22nd Amendment says that you can't be elected to the office of the POTUS more than twice, many people interpret it to mean you can't be elected to the Vice Presidency if you've been elected POTUS twice.

Of course, the Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell (D) was born in London and moved to the USA at the age of 3. She would be 8th in line for the POTUS, but she is excluded because she is not natural born. So Hillary could select Bill Clinton as her VP on the proviso that if she is incapacitated, the Speaker of the House of Representatives would become POTUS. Of course, that position is currently held by a Republican, Paul Ryan. With Republicans having a 248/188 majority in the House, that position is unlikely to be filled by a Democrat in the near future. Pelosi was 52nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011, but other than those four years, it has been a Republican since 1995.

Quote: 22nd Amendment , ratified February 27, 1951

Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.

But that says "elected" president. If she chose Bill, and Hilary died, then Bill wouldn't be "elected" president but would get it automatically.

Perhaps Hils should nominate Paul Ryan or Mitt Romney as her VP... that'd put the pigeon amongst the cats.

Quote: Wizard

But that says "elected" president. If she chose Bill, and Hilary died, then Bill wouldn't be "elected" president but would get it automatically.

I understand that the Amendment did not address the possibility of becoming POTUS other than by election. Al Franken used to say (in 2000) that he wanted to run for President with Bill Clinton as his Vice Presidential candidate. Franken would run on a single campaign promise, that he would resign on inauguration day. Of course in 2008 he did run for Senator, and now is on the list of potential VP candidates.

What I am saying is that someone will sue and charge that the candidate is violating the "spirit and intent" of the amendment. While they may not win, the publicity may taint the election badly.

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Consider the hypothetical scenario. Hillary Clinton is nominated as Democratic presidential candidate July 25–28, 2016, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia along with her choice for VP (say Al Franken).

The Congress has established the date of the presidential election, by statute, as the “Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in every fourth year succeeding every election of a President and Vice President.” Congress has the power to protect the integrity of the Presidential election, and the authority to set the time of election, so they would seem to have the power to postpone elections because of a national emergency.

But let's say something happens to Hillary that the Republican dominated congress does not see as a "national emergency". You can supply your own scenario, but the arrest of Hillary is always bandied about. Anything that involved her being wounded or dead would make the Republicans look bad in the eyes of the public for not delaying the election.

So with the election 15 weeks after the convention the Democrats have a critical situation. Uncomfortable with Bernie Sanders or Al Franken, the Democratic party decides to go with Joseph Biden for POTUS and Barack Obama for Vice President.

While such a scenario is unlikely, it is certainly not impossible.

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I am not sure who the backup candidate would be if Trump is incapacitated. Paul Ryan? Ted Cruz? Mitt Romney?