The fact of Vice Presidents not contesting in
US Presidential Election of 2008, is one of the most notable features of this election. Richard Dick Cheney, the present Republican Vice President from Wyoming is not contesting the elections. Neither is Al Gore, the former Tennessee Democratic Vice President, interested to take part in it.
The Vice President Mr. Richard Dick Cheney has denied taking part in the Presidential elections of 2008. He has stated in clear words in an interview that he will not run for the elections. On the other hand, Al Gore stated that he would not run for the post of Vice President owing to the fact that he had lost in the Presidential elections of the year 2000, and also stating that he had got too involved with environmental and World conservative issues to run for the Presidency. However, the Democratic Party continues to persuade Al Gore to contest the 2008 US Election although he has not shown any serious interest in the contest till date.
The participation of the vice-Presidents as Presidential candidates has been a repeated pattern in the history of US elections. The trend has been that the Presidential contestants always included the Vice President’s candidature. Some of the examples of such contesting candidates are:
- Al Gore – Vice-President to Bill Clinton, he took part in 2000 US Election but lost the contest.
- George H. W. Bush – Vice President of Richard Nixon, he emerged as a winner in the 1988 US Election.
- Richard Nixon – Vice President to Dwight D. Eisenhower, he contested in the 1960 US Election but lost it.
However, the Presidential Elections of the year 2008 will be a little different due to the absence of previous Vice Presidents from the contest, even in the primaries. A completely 'open seat election' with neither incumbent Presidents nor vice-Presidents running for the Presidency has been a rare phenomenon in US Elections. 2008 is going to be one of those rare occasions.
The last time such a situation arose was in 1928, when neither incumbent Presidents nor vice-Presidents ran in the primaries. A somewhat similar situation also arose in 1952, when neither the incumbent President nor the incumbent vice-President presented their candidature in the Presidential elections, after incumbent President Harry S. Truman lost out in the primaries and vice-President Alben Barkley failed to secure Democratic Party nomination.
