Second, a vice president should be someone the president can work with on a day-to-day basis to advance policy; having a good rapport with a vice presidential candidate will be important. Third, it would be helpful if a vice president can balance the ticket in terms of political experience or policy expertise. In our book, we tested the “vice presidential home-state advantage” using three distinct empirical methods, and each returned that same result; on average, the advantage is not statistically distinguishable from zero. However, Kaine does satisfy what we consider the most important criterion when selecting a vice presidential candidate: He could be an effective partner in governance as vice president, and he is qualified to take over as president if needed. One argument you hear for picking a vice presidential prospect is their ability to “carry” their home state, or put a noncompetitive state into play.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 02, 2016 15:21 UTC