Fun Fact #35: A bipartisan ticket is not outside the realm of possibilities

I'm not naive, I don't really think a bipartisan ticket is actually going happen in this election. But it is definitely an intriguing idea that could bring about some major changes. And, as I learned in one of my favorite classes, it's not unheard of.

Abraham Lincoln, one of our country's greatest Presidents, actually had a bipartisan ticket when he ran for re-election in 1864 because the country was so divided by the Civil War. Lincoln was a Republican and he asked his Republican Vice President from his first term, Hannibal Hamlin, to step down and Andrew Jackson, a War Democrat, became his new Vice President. They ran under a new party called the Union Party, a coalition of the War Democrats and the Republicans, and won the election. But no one will really no how a bipartisan presidency would have actually worked since Lincoln was assassinated only a little more than a month after his inauguration in 1865.

Also, in 2004, Kerry unofficially asked McCain to be his running mate for the 2004 elections. McCain declined the offer numerous times because he thought it wasn't a viable option. I personally think a Kerry/McCain ticket would have been pretty powerful.

I don't know how feasible a bipartisan ticket actually is but it could happen. Our country is extremely divided now, though not to the extent of America in 1864, and maybe a bipartisan ticket could pull it together. I just doubt that a bipartisan ticket, in this day and age, would every really come to fruition. But a McCain/Hilary ticket is certainly an intriguing concept.