Biden is 1st Catholic veep

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It's cool to belong to the non-WASP party   We've run a Jew and I think 4 Catholics on our national tickets to date.  And possible one Muslim?

Has there ever been a Catholic GOP VP candidate? 

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Ah, I didn't know how those Papists had taken over our government!  I'm going to go watch Gangs of New York again, haha.

How could I forget about William Miller?

[Lunar]

It's cool to belong to the non-WASP party   We've run a Jew and I think 4 Catholics on our national tickets to date.  And possible one Muslim?

Has there ever been a Catholic GOP VP candidate? 

6 Catholics that I can think of...JFK, Kerry, Biden, Ferraro, Smith, and Shriver being the obvious ones.  Apparently Ed Muskie was also Catholic, bringing the total to 7.  Eagleton may also have been Catholic, but one really shouldn't double-count him and Shriver.

Here are Catholic candidates that ran for president lately, but did not win the elections they ran for (but may have been selected as a VP afterwards) in addition to those six:


Two Bidens
Babbitt
Harkin
Braun
Richardson
Cuomo
Two Kennedys (Bobby & Teddy)
Two Jerry Browns
Shriver
Muskie
McCarthy
Pat Brown
And a few Kucinichs

Honestly, even subtracting the New England Catholic elite types, the Republicans should probably find some Catholic stage presence.

This is odd to me since generally there's some archbishop or another who talks about denying communion to abortion-supporters or what have you, but no Democratic Archbishop disagreeing (as far as I know, Phil could probably fill me in on the Archbishop catfighting, should there be any).  I know the Bishop in Wilmington has declined pressure to deny Biden communion.  But yeah, a truly devout Catholic seems like a natural fit into the GOP social agenda, do Protestants in the South or wherever still care about electing another Protestant?

It seems like a no-brainer to me.  There's a reason why LDS candidates do so well (Hatch and Romney for Pres., Reid, Mo Udall, the three Udalls in the senate now), it's called social networking.  It seems that a devoutly Catholic Republican could have unique avenues for volunteers, fundraising, and support that some generic Protestant branch would lack.

I never realized the Democratic edge in politician Catholicism until tonight, I'm a bit wowed by it actually

[Lunar]

There were also 104 Democratic Catholics in the 110th Congress as opposed to 51 Republicans. Not quite as pronounced as with major candidates, but still a pretty big advantage.

Too tired and too lazy, but is there any chance you would know senators and governors? 

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There's two Udalls in the Senate (Udall, Udall) + Idaho + Utah + Reid, no?


Too bad Smith lost in Oregon, otherwise there'd be three LDS Udalls.

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Brownback is a Catholic Senator who ran for President recently.

And Cynthia McKinney was a Black Congresswoman who ran for President recently.

If Brandon was responding to my post, that's not a fair response.

If I can list Braun & Kucinich he can list Brownback.  I was only listing Democratic candidates.

Has there been a better Catholic challenger than Brownback in the history of the GOP? Honest question, I can't think of one.

[Lunar]

Thanks!

Maybe I'll do a breakdown of governors (1 by 1 in Wikipedia, haha) later.

I don't know who Robert Smith is, but it seems that the most realistic Catholic GOP presidential candidates have been:
1) Rudy Giuliani
2) Tommy Thompson
3) Sam Brownback
and then
4) Pat Buchanan


I don't know what Rudy would be the equivalent of, maybe Bill Richardson, haha? 

[Lunar]

Republicans own a respectable five Catholic governorships in LA, SD, ND, RI, and CA

[Lunar]

Republicans own a respectable five Catholic governorships in LA, SD, ND, RI, and CA

Ah but the Democrats have 14 Catholic governors: CO, KS, ME, MD, MI, MT, NH, NM, NY, OR, VA, WA, WV, WI