Do vice-presidential selections matter?

.SHORTLY AFTER introducing his compete the Democratic nomination in 1960, John F. Kennedy said: “I do not recall a singular instance where a vice-presidential applicant supported an electoral ballot.” Still, the north-easterner selected Lyndon Johnson as his running-mate, really hoping that the statesman coming from Texas would aid him in southern conditions. Johnson tore around the South in a train nicknamed the LBJ Express, reaching rallies in a ten-gallon hat to the pressures of “The Yellow Flower of Texas”.

After he succeeded, Kennedy accepted that “we could not have actually brought the South without Johnson”. That Johnson “delivered the South” is right now obtained understanding. Yet just how much variation perform vice-presidential picks actually create in elections?