So the political crazy of the moment is:

Who will Vice President Kamala Harris pick as her vice presidential running mate.

And the unspoken, so-called “political wisdom” is that whomever it is, he — and apparently only men are in the running — will not only help her win the election but will be poised to be her successor as president. Just as Kamala herself has been poised to be President Joe Biden’s presidential successor.

But wait.

The historical fact is that vice presidents who succeed their presidential bosses through election are few.

Let’s run through some real, relatively recent history.

Vice President Richard Nixon in 1960, Vice President Hubert Humphrey in 1968, President Gerald Ford in 1976 — a vice president who had already succeeded his president through resignation (Nixon in 1974) — former Vice President Walter Mondale in 1984, and then-sitting Vice President Al Gore in 2000 all wound up as losers when running for president on their own.

As now-Vice President Kamala Harris races around the country and prepares to name her own vice presidential nominee — the same factors that led to the presidential defeats of her earlier predecessors are in play for her.

The economy is in trouble. Here is the current headline from the Wall Street Journal as this is written:

Dow Sinks More Than 1,000 Points in Global Selloff

Inside the WSJ, the story reported:

A stock-market selloff extended around the world, with U.S. indexes sliding and volatility spiking.

…. Concerns about a slowing U.S. economy are front and center after job growth slowed sharply in July.

…. As of late Monday:

The Dow dropped 1,034 points, while Nasdaq slid 3.4% and the S&P retreated 3%.

The VIX, considered Wall Street’s fear gauge, notched its biggest intraday percentage gain ever, before paring back somewhat.

Japanese stocks were among the hardest hit globally, with a tumble in SoftBank and bank stocks weighing. Elsewhere, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi sank 8% .

The yen leapt against the dollar, amplifying a trade that started to take hold last month.

Analysis: Our Streetwise column compares this decline with October 1987’s, while Heard on the Street offers a reason to remain calm.

Is Harris Competent as Vice President?

The obvious question: Will investors look at Vice President Kamala Harris and see someone who is competent to deal with a sinking economy?

One suspects the obvious answer is a thunderous “NO!!!”

Which gets back to the Harris role in the Biden administration in getting the economy in trouble in the first place.

And, also obviously, her presidential opponent is, among other things, a seriously successful businessman who knows a thing or two or three about how to run a successful economy, as he already demonstrated when president the first time.

Then there is foreign policy. Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris administration, wars have erupted in Ukraine and Israel. Indeed, the New York Times headline: Why Is Iran Expected to Attack Israel? What to Know About the Crisis.  “Iran has vowed to retaliate for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran last week in an attack for which it has blamed Israel.”

But without question, as the list of Kamala Harris’s  unsuccessful incumbent vice presidential predecessors-turned-presidential candidates vividly illustrates, the fact that Harris is right now the sitting Vice President of the United States and is reduced to defending a record that is decidedly unpopular with the American people both in domestic and foreign policy, does not bode well for her election as president.

No matter who she selects as her own running mate.

READ MORE from Jeffrey Lord:

Trump Is Right: Harris Plays the Race Card

Harris’s Fracking Blunder

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