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Chapter 12. The Presidency Vid: Vice Presidents Can Have a Major Impact - HYPERLINK "" have historically cast their ballots for presidential candidates without much consideration for the vice presidential running mates. But despite that the vice presidential slot is still important for winning the White House. American University Professor Candice Nelson explains why. Usually a vice presidential pick is put on the ticket to contribute something to the ticket. Beit regional, uh ideological, uh, something that corresponds to the, what the candidate for president has or has not as a strength. Along with being female, the Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is also strongly conservative and a fundamentalist Christian. Her presence on Republican Senator John McCain’s ticket has boosted support from those groups. But while Palin’s presence is positive in some ways it has also raised concerns with certain voters. Johns Hopkins University Professor Ben Ginsberg:Americans are very concerned with the question of who will be the vice president because that official is, as is often said, a heartbeat away from the presidency. Republican John McCain, if elected, would be the oldest person, at age seventy two, to enter the White House. He has also suffered from skin cancer. Ben Ginsberg says some Americans worry about Palin’s proximity to the Oval Office.She’s relatively inexperienced, unknown and untried, and there’s some concern about what would happen if John McCain became disabled or died. By comparison V P nominee Senator Joe Biden is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with twenty six years of Senate experience. The concern about Palin is not hypothetical. In nineteen forty five during World War Two, Vice President Harry Truman was thrust into the White House after the sudden death of Franklin D Roosevelt. Truman was instantly saddled with critical responsibilities as George Mason University Professor Robert Dudley notes:He did not know about the atomic bomb. One would think in the midst, in the midst of a war, a major weapons development that the vice president, had he been close to the president, would have, would have known about it. But despite this initial shortcoming, Truman made the decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan and ended the war. Then he made more history. So did Lyndon Johnson, a later vice president, who assumed the presidency in nineteen sixty three, after the assassination of John F Kennedy. Again, Ben Ginsberg:Harry Truman, uh, who succeeded to the presidency, uh, helped to shape America’s post-war economic and security policy. Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency, was the architect of America’s, uh, civil rights revolution during the nineteen sixties, uh, and unfortunately of America’s Viet Nam war. Along with being the successor upon the president’s death or disablement, the U S Constitution says the vice president also presides over the Senate and casts a tie-breaking vote, if needed. Candice knows and explains that the current vice president, Dick Cheney, has used his Senate role strategically:Following the two thousand election, there were equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. Because the vice president sits as president of the Senate, and the vice president was Republican, the Republicans claimed that they were the majority party in the Senate and they organized, um, the committees. They chaired the committees. The next V P, whether Governor Palin or Senator Biden, could be a strong administrator as Dick Cheney has been, or just once again, someone who attends ribbon cuttings and funerals for dignitaries.Jeffrey Young, VOA News ................
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