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FOUR BALLOTS into the 1932 Democratic National Convention Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York finally secured the nomination of his party for president of the United States.
A two-thirds vote of all delegates was required to become the party’s standard-bearer. FDR arrived in Chicago with approximately 670 of the roughly 770 delegates needed for nomination.
Others competing in the Windy City were former governor of New York and the party’s 1928 presidential nominee Al Smith, who controlled a loyal following of 200 delegates, and Speaker of the House John Nance Garner of Texas who had barely 100 votes in the room. A few dozen remaining delegates were scattered among various regional and lesser-known dignitaries.
Smith hung tough through ballots one and two, in hopes of stopping Roosevelt and igniting a boomlet for himself or another non-Roosevelt such as one-time mayor of Cleveland and former Secretary of War Newton Baker of Ohio.
During ballot No. 3 Roosevelt’s camp had had enough. Garner was offered the vice presidency, the speaker released his delegates to the New York frontrunner, and Roosevelt was nominated on the fourth “roll call of the states.”
Re-elected with the president in 1936 Garner held his new office for eight years, venting famously that the vice presidency, “isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit.”
As events in Europe exploded, the 71-year-old Garner was not re-nominated in 1940 when President Roosevelt offered the VP post to his secretary of agriculture, Henry Wallace of Iowa. Four years later FDR handed the ticket’s second spot to Missouri Sen. Harry S. Truman – later the 33rd president of the United States.
Hardly an inconsequential position, 14 of our 47 vice presidents have become president.
Considering the consequential importance of selecting a vice presidential running mate, when might Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney be able to contemplate the person he will recommend for the post?
With the GOP presidential cage fight now slated to drag on into Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Louisiana during the remainder of this month alone, can Romney even appear to be pondering such a possibility?
Yet, in light of the disastrous choice of Sarah Palin four years ago, he must prepare, and the rapt attention of the GOP and the nation will be focused on who Romney taps and why.
Far short of the delegates needed for nomination, but with more than 400 of the 1,144 necessary to cross the finish line, Romney’s numbers will only grow when the campaign moves next month into Washington, D.C., Maryland, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Simultaneously it becomes more problematic for Romney to reach the 1,144 threshold prior to the festivities in Tampa. Should either Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum leave the race, the complexity of Romney’s predicament intensifies.
However, after last week’s less than super Tuesday, it is now difficult to imagine that the Republican convention in August, and especially the Republican congressional leadership in attendance, would allow Romney to be denied the nomination and face the ensuing chaos it would cause.
In choosing his running mate, can Romney wait until the convention where (and when) the VP selection might be forced upon him? Must he hold off until June 26 when the final primary is concluded in winner-take-all Utah? Might his team already be streamlining a list of VP possibilities for his careful consideration?
It’s premature for Romney to comment on a vice presidential selection process. Nor can he speculate seriously about individuals who might populate his “nonexistent” short list.
But we can.
Ready your picks. Details to follow. At stake is the coveted 2012 “In the Arena” Vice Presidential Brass Spittoon.