A "Balanced" VP

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said a couple days ago that the doesn't think regional balanced is an issue anymore in choosing a vice presidential candidate to complete his ticket. Sen. McCain claimed that the wildly successful Clinton-Gore, Arkansas-Tennessee ticket did away with that convention for good. According to the article I looked at, it was the first complete "son of the South" ticket in U.S. history, which is hard to believe. I guess technically the country's first presidents, all from Virginia, did not run as a "ticket" until the 12th Amendment passed.

I came across a news clip the other day that said in the moments after Election Day 1970, while Lawton Chiles was still basking in the glow of victory, rumors had already fired up that he might join the presidential ticket of Sen. Ed Muskie, D-Maine, in 1972, against President Nixon. Back then, "balance" was all the rage, and Muskie-Chiles sure would have done the job.