{"id":586,"date":"2020-11-23T17:22:23","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T17:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/?p=586"},"modified":"2020-11-30T17:24:04","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T17:24:04","slug":"trumped-by-trump-mike-pence-heads-to-obscurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/trumped-by-trump-mike-pence-heads-to-obscurity\/","title":{"rendered":"Trumped by Trump, Mike Pence heads to obscurity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest casualty of the 2020 election was, of course, Donald Trump, who became only the fifth president since the 1800s to be booted out of office after one term \u2014 and the first in 28 years. But the second most prominent victim may turn out to be Trump\u2019s sidekick, Vice President Mike Pence.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been pretty clear from the very beginning that Pence was aiming to run ultimately for president in his own right, probably his motivation for accepting the nod as Trump\u2019s No. 2 in the first place. He has been a sycophantic Trump defender and explainer in all things, having mastered early on the Nancy Reaganesque adoring gaze at the president whenever in his presence. Be true to the boss, I\u2019m sure Pence thought, and he\u2019ll fall heir to Trump\u2019s fanatical base in his own run.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mondale was annihilated, losing 49 states, carrying only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But in the two most recent cases of one-term presidents \u2014 George H.W. Bush in \u201892 and Jimmy Carter in \u201880 \u2014 their politically ambitious understudies embarrassingly flamed out when they pulled themselves out of the debris, dusted themselves off and ran in their own right four years later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Former Vice President Walter Mondale, who went down with Carter in the 1980 Reagan landslide, began running almost immediately for the Democratic nomination in 1984. He faced a significant and tenacious opponent in Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, and barely won the nomination after a fractious primary process in which Hart refused to concede. Mondale made history by choosing the first-ever female running mate on a major party ticket, New York Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, a move designed to engender enthusiasm and motivate the Democratic base. But alas, after running a lackluster campaign and being spanked by Reagan in the debates, Mondale was annihilated, losing 49 states, carrying only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.<\/span><\/p>\n

That takes us to Dan Quayle, the last defeated sitting vice president with visions of sugar plums dancing in his head sent about avenging his boss\u2019s loss and running for president in his own right. It was widely assumed by the pundits and prognosticators that Quayle would seek the \u201996 GOP nomination, and that he would have the pole position. Conservative columnist Jack Anderson in the Washington Post was a particularly exuberant shill for Quayle, writing that Quayle had the inside track, claiming that Quayle \u201ctops the list,\u201d and that his \u201cbiggest strength is his fundraising ability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In all of U.S history, only two vice presidents have ever been elected president after an interregnum between their service in that post and their election as president.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But Quayle\u2019s \u201996 campaign ultimately got little traction, and in February of 1995, he withdrew from the race before it even really started, coming only three weeks after he had announced his candidacy at a rally in Indianapolis. Given the hype about his supposed advantage in fundraising, it was ironic that the New York Times headline on the story announcing Quayle\u2019s withdrawal read \u201cFacing financial squeeze, Quayle pulls out of \u201996 race.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t the ex-veep\u2019s last humiliation as a presidential aspirant. Lest we forget, Quayle also announced he was going to run in 2000. By then almost a political footnote, his second\u00a0<\/span>attempted comeback didn\u2019t end well, either. After finishing eighth \u2014 yes, eighth \u2014 in the Iowa straw poll, the former conservative darling dropped out of the race and out of sight, claiming he couldn\u2019t raise the money to compete.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, in all of U.S history, only two vice presidents have ever been elected president after an interregnum between their service in that post and their election as president \u2013 Richard Nixon, who won in 1968 after leaving office as vice president in 1961, and now Joe Biden, elected commander in chief four years after departing as vice president.<\/span><\/p>\n

But even these two exceptions did not involve the circumstances Pence will face \u2013 having been ejected from office unceremoniously with his boss after one term, with the president with whom he served essentially in disrepute with a large majority of voters. Both former Pres. Eisenhower and former Pres. Obama remained in high regard during the campaigns of their erstwhile underlings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, neither Nixon nor Biden had to contend with a defeated ex-president who threatened to run again to redeem himself. Trump will surely dominate the race and suck most of the air out of the room in the 2024 race if he does run \u2013 and demean and denigrate Pence to no end with his base if he dares run against him.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, Mike Pence, welcome as a prospective member of the Mondale-Quayle Hall of Forgotten Vice Presidents. Congrats, I guess.
\n\u2014
\nEditor\u2019s Note: California political consultant\u00a0<\/em><\/span>Garry South is a veteran Democratic strategist and commentator who managed Gov. Gray Davis\u2019 successful campaigns in 1998 and 2002, and played central roles in three presidential campaigns.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The biggest casualty of the 2020 election was, of course, Donald Trump, who became only the fifth president since the 1800s to be booted out of office after one term \u2014 and the first in 28 years. But the second most prominent victim may turn out to be Trump\u2019s sidekick, Vice President Mike Pence. It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":589,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions\/589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}