How many Jewish U.S. vice presidents have there been?

The answer to the question is "Zero," of course, and there has only been one Jew ever nominated for VP by a major party--then Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman.

As the American Jewish press begins to ponder how Paul Ryan, presumptive Republican nominee for vice president will influence Jewish voters, I wondered why more Jews have not been either nominated or elected to this high office that sometimes is even a stepping stone to the presidency.

Considering that Jews by population are over-represented in that proving ground for higher office, the U.S. Congress--a 2011 survey by Pew Research found that "Jews, who make up about 2% of the U.S. adult population, account for 7% of Congress as a whole and 12% of the Senate--it's a bit of a poli-sci mystery why no more than one Jew has ever been nominated to the second spot on the ticket, or even (Halevai, if only) the first.

At the time of Lieberman's nomination, typical of the spin on the potential effects of his Jewish heritage, was this quote from his running mate Al Gore to ABC News: "I don't think those old distinctions and categories matter these days, the way they did in the past," said Gore.

But evidenced by the historic dearth of Jewish candidates, old distinctions clearly do seem to matter. The truth is, both parties opine and pine for our votes, but as running mates, not so much.

As for a Jewish president, I think the closest we have ever come was Republican nominee Barry Goldwater, an Episcopalian whose father's parents were Jewish.  

"I have always thought that if a Jew ever became President, he would turn out to be an Episcopalian," author Harry Golden was widely quoting as saying.

In fact, the idea of a Jewish president is still such a dream that one has to turn to movies, fiction, even science fiction to find a vision of it.

In Albert Brooks' 2011 dystopian novel, "2030 The Real Story of What Happens to America," Matt Bernstein is the nation's first half-Jewish president. During his term, life gets really complicated: a massive earthquake levels Los Angeles, and with the government broke and unable to respond, a deal is struck with China to rebuild.

In the 2008 film "Deterrence," Walter Emerson who becomes the nation's first Jewish president--he is appointed, not elected--has a defining moment when he drops a massive atomic bomb on Baghdad.

But no one has fanaticized on a Jewish presidency better than Albert Vorspan, who in  1961 wrote a piece for American Judaism Magazine titled "A Jew in the White House--A Fantasy of the Future."

In the magic of the moment of John Kennedy's election, Vorspan, a writer and Reform Movement leader begins his fantasy, writing:

"The election of our first Catholic President has affected me strangely. "Last night I had a dream--that a Jew became President of the United States."

In the recounting of his dream, Vorspan tells of a future 1984 Democratic convention that in desperation to break a deadlock nominates Jacob Meyer the "popular mayor of Minneapolis," for President.

We learn in the story, which recounts the highlights of the Meyer administration, that President Meyer has rearranged things in manner that would be well known to Hadassah and B'nai B'rith presidents alike:

"President Meyer introduced unprecedented reform into government," we are informed. "A new and revolutionary committee structure...every American was assigned to a sub-committee."

In the piece, to help with the Nation's budget, a Constitutional amendment is pushed through creating a "Vice-President in charge of Fund-Raising."

Also helping out with the finances are the women in President Meyer's family who organize the wives of the members of Congress into a "United States Congressional Sisterhood" that through a "nationwide bazaar" brings in "more money than all the excise taxes put together."

Finding a way to give Jewish Holidays equal time in photo opps, the Meyer White House also organizes "An afikomen hunt" that is "co-featured with Easter egg-rolling on the White House lawn."

Yes, finally a Jewish White House, but note: even in our own dreams we had to play it for laughs.

Edmon J. Rodman has written about making his own matzah for JTA, Jewish love music for the Jerusalem Post, yiddisheh legerdemain for the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, a Bernie Madoff Halloween mask for the Forward, and what really gets stuck in the La Brea Tar Pits for the Los Angeles Times. He has edited several Jewish population studies, and is one of the founders of the Movable Minyan, an over twenty-year-old chavura-size, independent congregation. He once designed a pop-up seder plate. In 2011 Rodman received a First Place Simon Rockower Award for "Excellence in Feature Writing" from the American Jewish Press Association."