In 2002, campaigning for Democrat Bill McBride for governor of Florida, I hoped McBride would tap the runner-up, African-American state senator Darryl Jones, as his running mate. Figuring it would really mobilize the black vote and draw support from black organizations and liberals all over the country; also, McBride could have folded Jones’ campaign organization into his own. Instead McBride chose an unknown for running mate, can’t even remember his name.
If McBride had chosen Jones – would it have helped or hurt his candidacy? IOW, are there more black voters or white racist voters in Florida?
Well, it’s no longer hypothetical. This year’s Dem nominee, Jim Davis, has named Jones as his running mate. If the Davis/Jones ticket wins, Jones will be the first African-American lieutenant governor in Florida’s history. And the question still stands: Will this win Davis more votes than it loses him?
Putting this in perspective: In 1994 Betty Castor resigned her post as Commissioner of Education to take the position of president of the University of South Florida. Governor Lawton Chiles appointed an African-American, I forget his name, to fill out the remainder of her term. He ran for the office of Education Commissioner that November – and he did not dare put his picture on any of his campaign literature, because he didn’t want to remind the voters he was black. But his opponent, IIRC, managed to point it out somehow. The black incumbent lost – had he won, he would have, I suppose, been the first African-American ever elected to any executive-branch state-level constitutional office in Florida.
The Vice President has almost no influence on a Presidential ticket. If I remember my Florida government correctly, the Lt. Governor doesn’t do anything. A situation unlike Texas where the Lt. Governor has more power than the Governor.
I can’t imagine it having any effect. Anyone that racist is probably voting Republican.
Really? Both parties, post-primaries, always seem to agonize over the choice of running mate as if it made a really big difference.
He succeeds the governor if the latter dies/resigns/etc. Two lt.-govs have succeeded to the governorship since the office was created in 1968. Furthmore, having served as lt.-gov would make Jones a (more) credible candidate for governor if he were to run again later on.
Actually, that’s because it’s inside baseball. Lt. Gov is a really good position from which to run for governor down the road. That means that it’s a highly covetted position amongst up and comers, and so the parties agonize over it because getting there is often a inter-party battle to see who will control the party. There are reasons to fight that aren’t just “it will make a difference in the elections.” Power is a good enough reason to care, even if its all within the party.
In 1988, the Democratic nominee for Vice President was Lloyd Bentsen, a highly respected, fairly conservative Texan.
The Republican nominee was Dan Quayle, a young, inexperienced lighweight.
If ever there was a mismatch in VP nominees, this was it! Lloyd Bentsen SHOULD have attracted Southern voters. He SHOULD have attracted moderate Republicans. He SHOULD have attracted voters who worried about an unseasoned non-entity like Dan Quayle becoming President.
In reality, the Democrats didn’t carry a single Southern state that year. And while Dan Quayle became a national punchline, he didn’t hurt the GOP ticket in the least.
Practically NOBODY votes based on the #2 person on a ticket.
Yeah, but in 2004, when the Dems put up John Edwards as the VP candidate, he managed to get them to carry… well, there had to be someone who would have voted for Bush otherwise. I’m sure at least some family members and close friends were swayed to the ticket.
Incidentally, I don’t know how it is in Florida, but here in Massachusetts the governor and leiutenant governor are elected separately, so one could vote for a split party ticket if one were to vote along racial lines.
which reminds me, is it me or is this quote:
basically saying that blacks are as likely to vote solely based on race as white racists are?
Black voters are quite reasonably inclined to vote for a black candidate where it will help break down one more barrier, and since they are practically all Dems anyway there’s no conflict (as there might be if Rice runs for prez in ‘08); I’m assuming Jones’ presence on the ticket will just get more of them out to vote. The question is whether it will alienate a larger number of white Dems and other whites who might be inclined to vote Dem.
BTW, waterj2, I hope you would agree that, generally speaking, African American voters have a good reason to prefer voting for a black candidate when they get the chance, whereas white American voters do not have any good reason for preferring a white candidate.
That’s not true! All the Jews here in South Florida were really excited when Joe Lieberman was tapped as Gore’s running mate in 2000! That’s why they voted for . . . ermm . . . Buchanan . . .