The campaign to serve as Donald Trump’s running mate has unfolded in an unusually public way, including a parade of potential vice presidents attending the New York trial that led to his historic criminal conviction. Even though Trump has suggested he might not name a running mate until this month’s Republican convention, there has been no shortage of tea-leaf-reading by journalists and pundits: Which candidate got a rough reception from conservative media? Who shared a meal with the former first family? Who defended Trump most vigorously against the despised judge or prosecutor of the moment?

Which potential running mate would do the best job as vice president may be of less interest to many commentators. But that is the most interesting question to us — and the most important one for the country.

That’s why, when we conducted our most recent Presidential Greatness Project survey of scholars, we asked the experts to evaluate vice presidents as well as presidents. The resulting rankings — which spanned from John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first vice president, to Kamala Harris — are intriguing.

Al Gore topped the list as the greatest modern vice president, followed closely by Joe Biden — who also recently entered the presidential rankings in the top third. Lyndon B. Johnson (Kennedy), George H.W. Bush (Reagan) and Walter Mondale (Carter) filled out the rest of the top five.

Nixon veep Spiro Agnew — who resigned from office following a bribery scandal — ranked last, with Dan Quayle (George H.W. Bush), Henry Wallace (FDR), Garner and Alben Barkley (Truman) rounding out the bottom five.

Harris and Mike Pence — who served under the last-ranked president, Trump — both came in the bottom half of vice presidents, at Nos. 11 and 13 out of 18, respectively. The low rankings of the current vice president and her predecessor reflect the experts’ view that they weren’t particularly active partners in their administrations.

That is a departure from the old conventional wisdom about the role of vice presidents, which boiled down to serving as a marginal electoral asset — by, say, representing a key state or constituency — and, essentially, maintaining a pulse. Historically, vice presidents were like offensive lineman in football: If their names were in the news, it probably wasn’t good.

Top to bottom, left to right: Vice presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Harry S. Truman, Dan Quayle, Gerald Ford, Al Gore, Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Spiro Agnew, Joe Biden, George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Nance Garner.

But the vice presidency has expanded dramatically in prominence in recent decades. Garner’s infamous comparison of the position to a bucket of warm “spit” (to put it delicately) may have been accurate when he held office under FDR, but modern vice presidents can be policymaking partners to presidents. Today, successful vice presidents provide advice, work with Congress and carry the president’s message.

Beyond the overall rankings, we were able to evaluate our most recent vice presidents — going back to Mondale — across several dimensions of the contemporary vice presidency. These dimensions further underscore the policy partner component of the institution.

For example, in addition to being regarded as the greatest modern vice president, Gore topped the field as a policy advisor, reflecting projects such as his “reinventing government” initiative to shrink the bureaucracy and make government less expensive and more efficient. Biden scored high on relations with Congress, largely for his “big … deal” role in helping shepherd the Affordable Care Act into law. Dick Cheney, who wasn’t rated highly overall, was nevertheless seen as an important policy advisor to President George W. Bush.

Best veep ever? Joe Biden and Al Gore — the former seen here awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the latter — both ranked high in a panel of experts’ appraisal of our nation’s last 18 vice presidents.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

When we asked our respondents to provide their own definitions of vice presidential greatness, we received a wide range of responses, but several concepts and themes recurred consistently. The words that appeared most frequently in these definitions included “policy,” “effective,” “support,” “office” and “agenda” — all typically related to White House policy more than electoral politics.

This jibes with the answers to another question we asked concerning the characteristics that are most important in a vice president. The respondents indicated that the ability to serve as a policy advisor or presidential surrogate was far more significant than the conventional focus on electoral politics.

Many of the potential running mates Trump is considering at least have the experience to become successful vice presidents. Governors such as Ron DeSantis of Florida and Doug Burgum of North Dakota have executive experience, as do the apparently free-falling Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Trump’s primary season nemesis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina, J.D. Vance of Ohio or Marco Rubio of Florida could serve as a bridge to Congress. Any of them could have the makings of effective White House policy partners given the opportunity and the inclination — neither of which is a given considering the fate of the Pence vice presidency.

That’s unfortunate, because a running mate who can provide stability and serve capably is especially important this year. Given the advanced age of both candidates, as well as the potential for Trump’s legal woes to follow him into a second term, there is a greater chance than usual that either running mate could become president.

There’s no Mt. Rushmore for vice presidents. But if there were, our expert survey suggests it would be shaped by productive governing partnerships rather than political ticket-balancing. In a year of broad public dissatisfaction with the presidential candidates and acute awareness of their flaws, many voters may well look for that potential in the running mates.

Justin Vaughn is an associate professor of political science at Coastal Carolina University. Brandon Rottinghaus is a professor of political science at the University of Houston.

Top Democratic congressional leaders are planning to hold a meeting to discuss President Biden’s fledgling re-election campaign, even as Biden himself has struck a defiant tone amid calls to drop out of the race.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is leading a virtual meeting with top Democrats on Sunday, with leaders expected to discuss the path forward for Biden’s campaign, according to an NBC News report that has been confirmed by Fox News.

The meeting will feature Jeffries and top committee Democrats, a person familiar with the arrangement told Fox News, but will not be a meeting of the full Democratic caucus. 

CRITICS PILE ON BIDEN FOLLOWING ABC INTERVIEW, BLAST HIS REFUSAL TO COMMIT TO COGNITIVE TEST: ‘DISQUALIFYING’

The meeting comes after Biden’s 22-minute interview with ABC News on Friday, which the Biden campaign hoped would ease fears that the president doesn’t have what it takes to continue the campaign and defeat former President Donald Trump in December. Instead, the interview set off a new round of fears among Democrats who were already concerned by Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week.

“Look, Biden looked better and certainly more coherent than he looked during the debate, but there’s nothing in this interview that is calming the nerves of jittery Democrats who fear that Joe Biden is on a trajectory to lose this race, to lose to Donald Trump,” ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl said after the interview.

Biden, however, struck a defiant tone, saying at one point that he would not drop out unless “the Lord Almighty were to come down and say, ‘Joe, get outta the race.’”

But Democrats, many of whom have expressed fears a lackluster performance by Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket and cost the party Congressional seats, are seemingly not persuaded.

President Biden raised eyebrows when he expressed uncertainty about whether he had watched his debate performance in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.  (Screenshot/ABC)

PRESIDENT BIDEN FACES THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL WEEKEND OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER

The meeting of House committee leaders, which is slated for 2 p.m. Sunday, is not part of any regularly scheduled meeting for top Democrats, NBC reported. Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is organizing a meeting among Democratic senators next week to discuss Biden’s electability and the potential fallout for down-ballot races.

While some Democrats have kept concerns about the president’s electability private, a growing number have publicly called on Biden to step aside.

Meanwhile, Biden defenders such as Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., have urged others not to panic. Fetterman told NBC News that he “can’t think of a single situation where panicking or freaking out has made a situation better.”

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“He’s the one person who has beaten Trump before,” Fetterman said of Biden.

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

At the moment, state law limits rent increases for tenants in apartments and corporate-owned single-family homes that are older than 15 years. The cap is set at 5% plus inflation, with a maximum increase of 10%.

Local jurisdictions can impose stricter caps, but with limits.

State law generally prohibits local governments from putting rent control on single-family homes, as well as apartments built after February 1, 1995. In some cases, like the city of Los Angeles, that cut-off date is even earlier.

The law allows property owners to charge whatever they want when a unit becomes vacant. Once a new tenant moves in, the limitations take effect.

If Proposition 33 passes, it would repeal the state law that bans localities from capping rent on vacant units, single-family homes and apartments built after Feb. 1, 1995 or earlier.

Local governments wouldn’t be required to regulate rents on such properties, but they could if they wanted to.