Tracer: LOL. A great line!
The sad thing is that even as we speak (er, type) NFL Films is probably hard at work producing “Great Holders in NFL History” using the dubbed in voice of the late John Facenda.
Libertarian, have you forgotten our thirteenth Vice President, William Rufus de Vane King? When he was elected he was residing in Cuba. Because of poor health, he was unable to return to Washington for the inauguration and was given his oath of office in Havana. A month later he died, thereby becoming the only Vice President who never set foot on American soil during his entire term of office. In terms of “doing nothing” he set a standard so high that no lesser VP has been able to match it.
The scary thing is that this thread is getting more posts than the analogous one about presidents… 
Little Nemo: Libertarian, have you forgotten our thirteenth Vice President, William Rufus de Vane King? When he was elected he was residing in Cuba. Because of poor health, he was unable to return to Washington for the inauguration and was given his oath of office in Havana. A month later he died, thereby becoming the only Vice President who never set foot on American soil during his entire term of office. In terms of “doing nothing” he set a standard so high that no lesser VP has been able to match it.
Au countrair. King returned to his home in Cahaba, AL on 4/17/1953. He died the next day.
I nominate Hamlin for the do-nothing award. King didn’t have much choice in doing nothing. Hamlin went home to Maine and didn’t preside over the Senate. Guess he thought there was a chance the South would win.
I looked in the mirror today/My eyes just didn’t seem so bright
I’ve lost a few more hairs/I think I’m going bald - Rush
Well, if you’re judging Vice Presidents strictly by their accomplishments while in office…
I hate saying this, but Walter Mondale was probably the “best” Vice PResident in that regard. I didn’t agree with any of his positions, and wouldn’t have voted for him for dog catcher (no… on 2nd thought, I WOULD vote for him for dog catcher), but he was a genuinely active member of the Carter Administration, and had some genuine accomplishments on the diplomatic front.
Since most other Vice Presidents of either party did much except wait around for the Prez to die… I’d say Mondale wins by default.
Oops, I meant 1853. 
I looked in the mirror today/My eyes just didn’t seem so bright
I’ve lost a few more hairs/I think I’m going bald - Rush
C’mon…stop picking on Rufus King! He has one distinction no other Vice President has ever had (or, probably, wanted!): he was the only VP to have slept with a President (albeit not the one he was elected with).
OK, Poly, there’s a story here. Cough up the details!
From the “VP Quiz” (see the link above given by my personal hero, Uncle Beer)
None of this particularly proves that Buchanan and King had a homosexual relationship, or even that either Buchanan and King were homosexual.
JMCJ
Die, Prentiss, Die! You will never have a more glorious opportunity!
I would nominate TJ, except his VPency was not worth much because Adams disliked his politics. Perhaps, then, one is forced to conclude that John Adams, a poor president, was actually one of the best VP’s we have had. He had a significant influence on Washington’s cabinet and policies.
I proudly say that I managed to miss only 5 of the questions in the quiz, though I admit two correct answers were total guesses!
Now for a really interesting question: Who was the last Vice-President to succede his president in an election and last two full terms in office?
I ask this to point out the difficulty of the task. Gore, beware!
Without doing any looking on the Web, I’m going to guess it was TJ.
There haven’t been that many presidents to have two full terms of their own: Clinton, Reagan, Ike, FDR, Wilson, Cleveland, Grant, Jackson, Monroe, Madison, Jefferson, Washington. I know the 20th century two-termers weren’t veeps first; ditto Grant, Jackson, and Washington.
That leaves us Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Grover Cleveland. I’m positive Madison wasn’t TJ’s veep; I’m less sure about Monroe or Cleveland. But TJ was VP under Adams. I’m going with TJ.
Yeah, it must be Thomas Jefferson. Monroe was Secretary of State under Madison; Cleveland was never Vice President (and served in an era in which no other Democrats served). So he’d be the last and only Vice President to succeed his President through election and serve two terms in his own right.
- Boris B, Hellacious Ornithologist
In fact, there are only four Vice-Presidents who were elected to serve as President following their terms as Vice-President:
John Adams (Vice President, 1789-1797, President 1797-1801)
Thomas Jefferson (Vice President, 1797-1801, President, 1801-1809)
Martin Van Buren (Vice President, 1833-1837, President 1837-1841)
and George Bush (Vice President, 1981-1989, President 1989-1993).
And I’m not really sure you can count Jefferson as a “Vice President”: he was elected to the role back when “whomsoever gets the highest number of electoral votes becomes President, second-highest becomes Vice President”.
Thank God they got rid of that rule; imagine the administration of President Kennedy and Vice President Nixon; or President Reagan and Vice President Carter; or President Clinton and Vice President Bush. Makes my skin crawl.
JMCJ
Die, Prentiss, Die! You will never have a more glorious opportunity!
Well, the rule originally also specified that each elector had two votes. They couldn’t vote for the same person twice, so they were likely to vote for political allies. Jefferson only became Vice President because there was no recognized “Number Two” in the Federalist Party at the time.
The real problem with the system was the possibility of ties. Jefferson and Aaron Burr were the Number One and Two Republicans, and the Republicans were very loyal to them, so a tie was natural. The Federalists were sensible enough to have one dude vote for Federalist Number Three (John Jay) along with John Adams; the rest voted for Adams and Federalist Number Two (errr, James Pinckney? DeWitt Clinton? don’t remember).
I’m not trying to pick nits, it’s just I see this “Vice President as defeated Presidential candidate” misconception all the time.
- Boris B, Hellacious Ornithologist
Just to clarify: the “Jefferson vs. Burr” tie I’m talking about was in 1800. The 12th Amendment cleared that up before 1804.
Well, King gets my vote based on the flowing scarves thing alone. 
I figure anyone strong enough to be truly unconventional can’t be all bad, and if Jackson didn’t like you that’s just a bonus. But it’s too bad he didn’t last longer or realize other ambitious plans: President King has a real ring to it!
Oh, and President Kennedy / Vice-President Nixon has a certain attraction to it, too. Imagine the conspiracy theories…
John Corrado quoted the VP quiz as saying:
snicker Bear fruit! Get it?
As the saying goes, you learn something new every day. AWB is right; Vice President King did return to the US in time to die. And while I had heard the rumors of the alleged relationship between President Buchanan and Senator King, I’ll admit I never realized that the Senator was the same man as the Vice President.
Given the fact a Vice-President does nothing, having him be from a different party really doesn’t make much difference.
The only reason to worry is that, if the President dies, the VP takes over. THAT might encourage something you do not want if the offices are split between the two parties…