Ted Cruz is naming Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Naming a running mate was generally something a nominee did at Convention. While last cycle Mitt Romney named Paul Ryan his running mate before the convention he was, at that time, the presumptive nominee.
Ted Cruz is decidedly not the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. Are there any other examples of Presidential candidates naming their running mate when the outcome of the primary was still in question/not looking to go their way?
In 1976, Ronald Reagan, in his bid to challenge Gerald Ford, picked Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania as his running mate (source). Regan's choice of running mate was considered pretty liberal and the plan back-fired, but it was a gamble to make up ground when at a power disadvantage (according to the pundits in the two sources).
Hi there -- just wanted to say that this thread has been Officially Approved™ by the AskHistorians mod-team, but we want to remind potential answerers that answers must follow our "20-year rule," that is, to be confined to the period of 1996 (inclusive) and before. For more about this rule, feel free to check out this Rules Roundtable.
Thanks!