Running for VP gets you a loss in New Hampshire primary

Former Vice Presidential candidates traditionally do poorly in New Hampshire presidential primaries. Look at John Edwards, who won 17% earlier his month. In 2004, Joe Lieberman finished 5th with 9% of the vote. Sargent Shriver won 8% in his 1976 5th place finish, and Bob Dole, the GOP candidate for Vice President in 1976, lost the New Hampshire presidential primary three times: he finished seventh in 1980, and second in 1988 and 1996.

Edmund Muskie, the 1968 VP candidate, won the 1972 New Hampshire primary 46%-37% over George McGovern - a showing viewed as so poor for Muskie that it effectively ended his presidential campaign.

In fact, the best showing of an unsuccessful veep candidate in a New Hampshire presidential primary was in 1964, when Henry Cabot Lodge (who had run with Richard Nixon in 1960), won the New Hampshire primary as a write-in candidate. He easily outdistanced Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller, by a margin of more than 13,000 votes.

Incumbent Vice Presidents do a little better -- in 2000, Al Gore narrowly beat Bill Bradley, 50%-46%. And former Vice Presidents lose: Walter Mondale lost the 1984 primary to Gary Hart by a 37%-30% margin.

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