WASHINGTON (AFP) — The very first vice president thought the job to be a tedious waste of time, but the office has steadily gained in influence to its current apogee of power under Dick Cheney.
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are finalizing their selection of running mate in this year's battle for the White House, perhaps their most single most important decision before the November election.
Under Cheney and his predecessor Al Gore, the vice president has become a true partner in government, valued for his Washington experience, policy input and ability to deliver change through Congress.
It was not ever thus. Inaugural president George Washington's deputy, John Adams, said the nation had created "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived."
John Nance Garner, vice president to Franklin D. Roosevelt, famously described his job as "not worth a bucket of warm piss" (or "pitcher of warm spit," according to some more squeamish sources).
In Adams' day, the vice presidency was automatically given to the man who came second in the presidential electoral college. This arrangement soon become untenable with the emergence of opposing political parties.
But within the parties, the winner of the nomination has often selected his top rival as running mate to unite different factions. Considerations about geographical balance, and policy expertise, have also been paramount.
The VP's official duties are limited: he is president of the Senate and has the casting vote in the event of a tie in the 100-seat chamber. And of course, he steps up to the top job if the president dies or is incapacitated.
Beyond that, and especially before Gore and Cheney, the position often involved little more than ceremonial duties such as representing the nation at funerals of foreign dignitaries.
Nine holders of the office have succeeded unelected to the presidency. The last was Gerald Ford following the resignation in disgrace of Richard Nixon in 1974. Four sitting VPs have been elected president.
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