When running mates mattered

[phk]

Can anyone remember the last time a running mate
Who is Lieberman's core constituency?  Is ANYONE fired up by him?  He's experienced, but he's boring.  I can't think of a single state that Gore couldn't have won without him.

Florida.

[phk]

I thought that Cheney was supposed to lend Bush gravitas during the 2000 election.  If that's true, then Cheney's value to the ticket extended far beyond his home state.

He lost his home-county in 2004 .

[phk]

< Liebermann helped Gore in Florida, though not enough to win. >

Or maybe Gore did win. 

Seriously, how did Lieberman help Gore in Florida?  I know that Florida has a large number of Jewish, but I thought most Jewish voters are already Democratic.  Kerry was Catholic, but exit polls say he narrowly lost against Bush among Catholics.

< The choice of Gore for Clinton might have helped Clinton in Tennessee, Arkansas and Georgia.  The all south ticket probably generated excellent moral support in the South in 1992. >
Are you sure that Clinton couldn't have won these states without Gore?

Gore won the Jewish vote nationally in 2000 79-19, Kerry won it only 74-25, so Lieberman helped him there.  Still looking for 2000 Florida exit polls

I'm not sure if Lieberman really helped that much with the Jewish vote, though I used to think he did.  In 2000, the mideast was relatively quiet, with the intifada just having started, and Clinton still pushing Arafat toward peace.

By 2004, the situation had totally changed.  Israel had been under siege for nearly four years, and the Bush administration had strongly supported Israel.  Given the changed environment, this would have led to a larger share of Jewish support for Bush in 2004 over 2000, even without the Lieberman factor.  The fact that the swing was so small leads me to believe that Lieberman didn't really help Gore that much in 2000 with the Jewish vote.

I do think Lieberman was a good choice for nominee overall, though.  I think that overall, Gore would have done worse without him.

Jewish turn-out in FL, increased evn if the swing wasn't big.