As I was taking the laundry down off the line, I made an intriguing realization.
This year’s Democratic ticket is the first since 1984 without a presidential or vice presidential candidate that hails from the old Confederacy.
2008 — Obama (Illinois)/Biden (Delaware)
2004 — Kerry (Massachusetts)/Edwards (North Carolina)
2000 — Gore (Tennessee)/Lieberman (Connecticut)
1996 — Clinton (Arkansas)/Gore (Tennessee)
1992 — Clinton (Arkansas)/Gore (Tennessee)
1988 — Dukakis (Massachusetts)/Bentsen (Texas)
1984 — Mondale (Minnesota)/Ferraro (California)
On the Republican side, it’s 1996 since the ticket hasn’t had a candidate from the Confederacy. Depending, of course, upon whom McCain picks for his running mate. (I’ve said for a long while his best picks are either Haley Barbour or Mike Huckabee, as both would shore up his support with the evangelicals. Of course, I’ve said for a while that Obama’s best pick would be Wesley Clark, and we all saw how that turned out. 😆 )
2004 — Bush (Texas)/Cheney (Wyoming)
2000 — Bush (Texas)/Cheney (Wyoming)
1996 — Dole (Kansas)/Kemp (New York)
The last year when no major party presidential or vice presidential candidate came from the Confederacy?
Arguably 1948.
The Republicans ran Thomas Dewey of New York and Earl Warren of California. The Democrats ran Harry Truman of Missouri and Alben Barkley of Kentucky. While neither Missouri nor Kentucky were officially states of the Confederacy, both states had sizeable populations of Confederate sympathizers and were considered, by the Confederacy, to be part of the nation.
Unambiguously 1940.
The Democrats ran Franklin Delano Roosevelt (New York) and Henry Wallace (Iowa). The Republicans ran Wendell Willkie (New York) and Charles McNary (Oregon).
History could be made this year, depending on McCain’s pick of a vice presidential running mate. If he picks a candidate that doesn’t come from the Old South, he will be ending a major party “tradition” that has extended back at least sixty years.