Do Governors ever get picked for the Vice-Presidency?

[Meursault]

If its true that Representatives are hardly ever nominated to the Presidency, it's also undeniable that Governors rarely become Vice-Presidential nominees. Which makes perfect sense, as the Vice-Presidency is essentially a parliamentary body.

I can think of only two Governors to be 'elevated' to the Vice-Presidency, and only the former recieved that dubious honor in an actual election: Spiro Agnew under Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller under Ford. And Rocky was dropped from the ticket.

I suppose Republicans do this a little more frequently than Democrats, as the only other such nominee I can think of is Sarah Palin.

Any others?

[Mister Mets]

You have the main examples in semi-recent politics.

There are twice as many Senators as Governors, so there will be more Senators to choose from.

The Democratic party also has a strong preference for Senators as running mates. Since 1944, they've chosen 15 Senators for the position. The only exceptions were 1972 (when the first choice, a Senator, turned out to have kept his psychiatric problems a secret) and 1984 (when Mondale, a former Senator turned Veep, wanted a groundbreaking running mate.)

I think it reflects the party's vision of a strong federal government, but it also insures a surrogate who knows the major players in Washington and is going to be knowledgeable enough about key issues to avoid making serious gaffes.

Republican running mates and veeps are more diverse, with a few Senators, but also Governors, Congressmen and former presidential appointees (Papa Bush, Cheney and Kemp.) The latter may be a consequence of Republicans winning so many presidential elections from 1968 to 1988.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

George Clinton, Elbridge Gerry, Daniel D. Tompkins, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Hannibal Hamlin, Andrew Johnson, Thomas A. Hendricks, Levi P. Morton, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas R. Marshall are the others, although in the cases of Van Buren and Tyler it wasn't their most recent office, that would be true of Johnson as well had he not been an appointed military governor after being an elected governor, and the only ones without Congressional experience were Clinton, Tompkins, Roosevelt, and Marshall.