You should read from the Nixon Foundation website about his selection of Lodge:
https://www.nixonfoundation.org/2008/09/a-very-forgettable-vice-presidential-nominee/It may have been one of the worst VP nominee selections for a serious presidential campaign. After all, Kennedy defeated Lodge for Senate in 1952 (while the Republicans were sweeping the country and retook the Senate and House).
For 1960, Lodge's campaigning was ineffective and minimal, and Nixon essentially ran a solo campaign.
In his autobiography, Nixon wrote that he had asked Nelson Rockefeller to be his running mate (no love lost there, but it would have been a marriage of convenience like Kennedy-Johnson). Rockefeller rejected it, but it could have moved New York (and other states) to the Republican column.
In retrospect, it's remarkable that Nixon came as close as he did.
