Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is back in the news, the subject of a scathing and brutal Vanity Fair article by Todd S. Purdam.  

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, will attempt to buck history in 2012. 

Since the American public has the memory of a gnat (who lost the World Series last year?) it's unlikely that a hit piece published in 2009 will hurt her GOP presidential chances in 2012.

Mrs. Palin is faced with a much more formidable foe than a Vanity Fair reporter; United States electoral history.

Vanquished vice-presidential nominees simply do not have a path to the White House.  Historically, whatever goodwill that they built up with the voters quickly fades away.

Franklin Roosevelt, the failed Vice Presidential candidate in 1920, was elected President in 1932, becoming the only defeated VP candidate in modern United States history to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

A look at the last twelve losing Vice Presidential candidates (not including Mrs. Palin) reveals an accomplished group of people, all successful in life’s pursuits, yet all falling well short of the coveted Oval Office. 

In fact, since 1960 only Walter Mondale and Bob Dole received their party’s nomination for President, after losing vice-presidential campaigns. Both were soundly defeated in the general elections.

The Last Twelve VP Losers In Chronological Order

2004  John Edwards 

Edwards sought the Democratic nomination in 2008, finishing second to Barack Obama in the Iowa Caucus. After coming in third in New Hampshire, and in his birth state of South Carolina, he dropped out of the race, eventually endorsing Obama. He held back that endorsement until he was certain that Obama would prevail. Edwards solidified his image as a major-league loser by cheating on his cancer-ridden wife Elizabeth.

Blatant opportunism made Joe the least trusted member of the Senate.

 2000  Joe Lieberman

Lieberman ran in 2004, placing a distant seventh in the popular vote,  winning no primaries, and accumulating fewer votes than Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich.  Running as a pro Iraq War candidate in the Democratic primaries was at best a miscalculation and at worst a symptom of an over-inflated sense of importance.  Senator Lieberman, also known as a vocal dead-ringer for Alf's dad, was last seen holding his finger in the air, trying to figure out which way the wind was blowing.

1996  Jack Kemp

The highly regarded and genial former Congressman, Cabinet member, and NFL quarterback, attempted to run in 2000.  Unable to raise the amount of money needed to compete, he abondoned his exploratory committee and endorsed George W. Bush.  He passed away earlier this year. 

Quayle never had a chance but that didn't stop him from trying.

 1992  Dan Quayle

Quayle sat out the race in 1996, calculating that he would not be able to defeat Bill Clinton.  He threw his hat in the ring in 2000, finishing eighth in the Iowa Caucus. He quickly dropped out of the race and supported George W. Bush. Quayle is said to be quite pleased with his new title as the "Second Dumbest VP Candidate In History."

1988  Lloyd Bentsen

Bentsen, who famously informed Dan Quayle that "he was no John Kennedy," did not run in 1992.  He served as Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration, fifth in the line of succession to the presidency. A series of strokes prevented him from seeking the highest office in the land.

Mondale's 1984 Hail Mary pick.

1984  Geraldine Ferarro

Justice Department probes into her and her husband's finances derailed any thoughts of running in 1988. She ran for the United States Senate in New York, in 1992 and 1998, failing to get through the primaries.

Not so close and no cigar.

1980  Walter Mondale

Mondale lost the 1980 election as the sitting Vice President. He won the Democratic nomination in 1984, losing in a landslide to Ronald Reagan.  Mondale lost forty-nine states to Reagan, barely carrying his home state of Minnesota.  Seen as an elder statesman of the Democratic Party, Mondale served as Ambassador to Japan in the Clinton administration.

1976  Bob Dole

The most persistent of recent losing candidates, Dole ran in 1980, losing to Ronald Reagan.  He ran again in 1988, falling to George H.W. Bush. He won the Republican nomination in 1996, and was trounced by Bill Clinton. Dole became a pitchman for Viagra, and a frequent Meet The Press guest.

The handsome Shriver ended up on the ticket after Eagleton crashed.

1972  Sargent Shriver

George McGovern's second choice for vice president, after post-convention revelations of Thomas Eagleton's mental health problems, Maria Shriver's father sought the Democratic nomination in 1976, finishing below “Uncommitted” in the Iowa Caucus. The driving force behind the creation of the Peace Corp, Shriver quietly returned to his lucrative private life as a litigator, philathropist, and Kennedy spouse.

Heavily favored Muskie fell apart in New Hampshire.

1968  Edmund Muskie

In one of the classic meltdowns in campaign history, Muskie broke down and cried in front of reporters after allegations that his wife drank too much and swore in public.  Muskie tried and failed to convince the voters that they weren't tears, but melted snowflakes running down his cheeks.

1964  William Miller

Miller, a New York Congressman, Nuremberg prosecutor, and the father of liberal radio host Stephanie Miller, never again sought political office. He managed to parlay his obscurity into one of American Express's first "Do You Know Me," commercials.

1960  Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

Lodge, a true Republican blue-blood, won the New Hampshire primary as a write-in candidate.  The win vaulted the politically reluctant Lodge into the race, where he never won another primary.

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The notion that Sarah Palin, less presidential than any of these losing candidates, including Dan Quayle, can somehow buck historical trends and become the next Franklin Roosevelt, is impossible to imagine.

However Mrs. Palin has made a career of exceeding expectations and she has a strong base of enthusiastic supporters. She will compete with other political lightweights like Bobby Jindal and Mike Huckabee for the affections of the right wing.  Unless something seismic happens to Mitt Romney, like it turns out that he has a South American mistress, he will be rewarded with the 2012 nod.

Sarah Palin will likely never be the President of the United States, but she has cemented her place in history alongside Estes Kefauver, John Bricker, and Frank Knox.

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Over the same time period only Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and George H.W. Bush went from winning the vice presidency to the White House... and the Tampa Bay Rays lost the World Series last year.