Running mate in the context of "2004 United States presidential election"

The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS, or informally, veep) is the second-highest ranking office in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is also an officer in the legislative branch, as the president of the Senate. In this capacity, the vice president is empowered to preside over the United States Senate, but may not vote except to cast a tie-breaking vote. The vice president is elected at the same time as the president to a four-year term of office by the people of the United States through the Electoral College, but the electoral votes are cast separately for these two offices. Following the passage in 1967 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the US Constitution, a vacancy in the office of vice president may be filled by presidential nomination and confirmation by a majority vote in both houses of Congress. This was based on the Tyler Precedent set in 1841 when John Tyler became the first vice president to take over for a deceased president following the death of William Henry Harrison.

The modern vice presidency is a position of significant power and is widely seen as an integral part of a president's administration. The presidential candidate selects the candidate for the vice presidency as their running mate in the lead-up to the presidential election. While the exact nature of the role varies in each administration, since the vice president's service in office is by election, the president cannot dismiss the vice president, and the personal working-relationship with the president varies, most modern vice presidents serve as a key presidential advisor, governing partner, and representative of the president. The vice president is also a statutory member of the United States Cabinet and United States National Security Council and thus plays a significant role in executive government and national security matters. As the vice president's role within the executive branch has expanded, the legislative branch role has contracted; for example, vice presidents now preside over the Senate only infrequently.

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, were reelected, defeating Democrat Adlai Stevenson II, former Illinois governor and Senator Estes Kefauver, in a rematch of 1952.

Eisenhower, who first became famous for his military leadership in World War II, remained widely popular. A heart attack in 1955 provoked speculation that he would not seek a second term, but his health recovered and he faced no opposition at the 1956 Republican National Convention. Stevenson remained popular with a core of liberal Democrats, but held no office and had no real base. He defeated New York Governor W. Averell Harriman and several other candidates on the first presidential ballot of the 1956 Democratic National Convention. Stevenson called for a significant increase in government spending on social programs and a decrease in military spending.

The Ron Paul presidential campaign of 1988 began in early 1987 when former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas announced his candidacy for the 1988 presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party. He joined the third party after leaving the Republican Party over the Reagan administration's handling of the federal budget. He ran on a platform that included non-interventionism in foreign conflicts, decriminalization of illegal drugs on a federal level, a return to the gold standard, the abolition of the Federal Reserve and a reduction in all government spending.

Paul defeated Native American activist Russell Means at the Libertarian Party's National Convention in Seattle to win the party's presidential nomination. Former Alaska State representative Andre Marrou was selected as his running mate. After over a year of campaigning as the Libertarian Party nominee, Paul received very little media coverage and was excluded from presidential debates. On Election Day, he was on the ballot in 46 states and the District of Columbia, and finished in third place with approximately 0.5% of the vote, behind Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis and the winner Vice President George H. W. Bush.

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 2000. The Republican ticket of Texas governor George W. Bush—the eldest son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush—and former secretary of defense Dick Cheney very narrowly defeated the Democratic ticket of incumbent vice president Al Gore and Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman. It was the fourth of five U.S. presidential elections, and the first since 1888, in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote, and is considered one of the closest U.S. presidential elections in history, with long-standing controversy about the result.

Incumbent Democratic president Bill Clinton was ineligible to seek a third term because of term limits established by the 22nd Amendment. Incumbent vice president Gore easily secured the Democratic nomination, defeating former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley in the primaries. He selected Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate. Bush was seen as the early favorite for the Republican nomination, and after a contentious primary battle with Arizona senator John McCain and others, he secured the nomination by Super Tuesday. He selected former secretary of defense Dick Cheney as his running mate.

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic president Barack Obama and his running mate, incumbent vice president Joe Biden, were elected to a second term. They defeated the Republican ticket of former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney and U.S. representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

As the incumbent president, Obama secured the Democratic nomination without serious opposition. The Republicans experienced a competitive primary. Romney was consistently competitive in the polls and won the support of many party leaders, but he faced challenges from a number of more conservative contenders. Romney secured his party's nomination in May, defeating former senator Rick Santorum, former speaker of the House and Georgia congressman Newt Gingrich, and Texas congressman Ron Paul, among other candidates.

In United States politics, balancing the ticket is a practice where a political candidate chooses a running mate, usually from the same party, with the goal of bringing more widespread appeal to the campaign. The term is most prominently used to describe the selection of the U.S. vice presidential nominee.

There are several means by which the ticket may be balanced. Someone who is from a different region than the candidate may be chosen as a running mate to provide geographic balance to the ticket. If the candidate is associated with a specific faction of the party, a running mate from a competing faction may be chosen so as to unify the party. Similarly, running mates may be chosen to provide ideological, age, or demographic balance.