The Vice President (VP), as the title denotes, is basically an aid to the President. In an election, it is the Presidential candidate who chooses their ‘running mate’ (the candidate who will fulfill the role of Vice President if they are elected) and together, the pair form a ‘balanced ticket’.
Choosing your running mate
The aim of most Presidential candidates is to select a VP who can balance them (hence ‘balanced ticket’) – this could be in demographic, geographic or ideological terms. Fundamentally, the purpose is to attract as wide a range of voters as possible, often attempted by having 2 people from different backgrounds. Past examples would be Joe Biden and Barack Obama; Obama was young and arguably inexperienced, whereas Joe Biden had been a Senator for 36 years, giving voters confidence that together they had sufficient experience to govern. Similarly, when John McCain selected Sarah Palin to run with him, he would have been appealing to women and far right voters. A key point is the Vice President is not elected separately to the President, they are appointed following the election of the Presidential candidate.
Powers of Vice President
Aside from appealing to a wider electorate, the Vice President does have specific powers. If a Senate reaches deadlock, as the presiding officer over the Senate, it is the Vice President who has the deciding vote. Also, their role oversees and certifies the Electoral College vote during elections. Furthermore, if the President were to be taken ill, to resign or pass away, it is the Vice who takes up their position. So far this has happened 14 times, including the assassination of Kennedy in 1963 and as a result of Ronald Reagan resigning in 1974 when Gerald R. Ford became President.
However, the debate over the importance of the VP is still widely contested. Joe Biden has never voted to break a tie in the Senate during his 8 years, and since this is the only circumstance in which a Vice President can vote, it begs the question what impact they can have on legislation. Plus, their supervising of the Electoral College will in no way change the outcome and thus is only a symbolic role.
This Year’s Candidates
In 2016’s race, Mike Pence (Governor of Indiana) is Trump’s Republican running mate, while Clinton has chosen Tim Kaine, the current junior Senator from Virginia. The Vice candidates had a debate on October 4th at Longwood University. Kaine was hit by the statistic that 60% of the public distrust Clinton, and responded by highlighting Clinton’s “passion” and her “focus on serving others”. Pence faced the difficult task of defending some of Trump’s more controversial comments, yet critics of the debate say he failed to do so. There was evidently no love lost between the candidates, with Kaine saying he “cannot believe that Governor Pence will defend the insult driven campaign that Donald Trump has run”.
The debate received mixed reviews. Kaine was condemned for interrupting Pence too much, while Pence was critiqued for addressing serious issues too nonchalantly, referring to issues as “this Iran thing”, “this whole Putin thing” in a way reflective of Trump’s own casual nature. Parts of the debate did descend into somewhat of an insult exchange, which did slightly take away from its informative function, Pence referred to it as an “avalanche of insults”.
So how do the Vice candidates ‘balance’ their respective Presidential nominees? Primarily, it can be seen in terms of political experience. Mike Spence sat in the House of Representatives for 10 years (2003-2013) and is currently Indiana’s state Governor, a contrast to Trump who has had no experience in either of the 3 branches of Government. In the Democrat race, Kaine represents a different gender, diffusing arguments that Clinton’s interests are vested only in supporting women. Furthermore, Kaine represents (and resides) in Virginia, a typically ‘red’ state, meaning a lean towards Republicans (aside from Obama, Virginia has voted for the Republican Presidential nominee since Reagan.) Hence, by selecting Kaine to run with her, Clinton is widening her ideological support by appealing to more right wing voters as well as the left.
Importantly the debate highlighted just how different the candidates are and therefore how important November the 8th is for not only the American people, but for citizens of the world!