Reproduced in yesterday’s Virginian-Pilot was this Washington Post op-ed by Lanny Davis.
Imagine this scenario: The country is so deeply divided that the media have color-coded the map of the United States to indicate the partisan chasm — one color covers the South and most of the border states, the other drenches the North.
As the presidential election year nears, one candidate, a shoo-in for his party’s nomination, has an obvious choice for running mate. Yet he also senses the uniqueness of the moment. So he makes a risky decision: He asks a leader of the opposition to run for vice president alongside him, forming the first bipartisan presidential ticket in U.S. history.
Interesting – and not so far-fetched as it sounds:
This is no fantasy. It’s the decision Abraham Lincoln made when, running for reelection in 1864, he asked his Republican vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, to quit the ticket in favor of the highly partisan Democrat Andrew Johnson.
Is it time for a bipartisan presidential ticket? If so, who would you pair? If not, why not?
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Absolutely ridiculous. What purpose could that possibly serve, beyond being a sop to those feeble thinkers who believe that “balance” of labels is an inherent good that trumps any real substantive issues.
How about Lanny Davis and Joe Lieberman just go ahead and form their own party of two and let the rest of us focus on actually accomplishing something useful.
Lincoln-Johnson is a bad analogy taken out of the context it was used in. Johnson may have been a highly partisan Democrat; but the reasoning behind his selection was that he was ultra pro-Union–being the only southern senator not to either resign or expelled. The comparisons don’t match.
I doubt this will ever happen because the person who crosses party lines to be the VP will never be trusted again. The party he joins will be wary if his past affiliations with the opposition; while the party he joins will equally be suspicious. Its a bad idea that looks good on paper but will never actually work. Its the usual blathery from guys like Lanny Davis who are so “agahst” by partisanship when they themselves are the most partisan of all.
See, look at that – liberals and conservatives can agree! (Esp. when the point is that Lanny Davis is an idiot.)
Wait… The Pilot reprinted soemthing instead of having original stories are articles?!?!?! I am shocked and amazed… Oh wait, that would be 90% of the Pilot every day!
The Virginian-Pilot: Your one stop for AP, NYT, LA Times and WaPo stories.
Ugh, they stick
Well, if the postings here are any indication, I’d say this idea is a pretty bad one 😉
I’m for the Jesus – Satan ticket – we need to promote that “diversity” and “bipartisanship” don’t we?
Lincoln got assassinated, too, to put the Democrat in power.