To quote my grand dughter, "Whatever . . . .(with a dramatic eye-role).
The point I am trying to bring forward is not that anyone should do now or should have done in the recent or distant past. All I am saying is that IF a President is to be replaced . . .for whatever reason and however it comes to pass . . .that doing it before the midterm elections is a limiting strategy.
The Nixon-Agnew-Ford switch-a-roo was not actually by design, but it does provides a template for party power brokers to contemplate in this modern era of partizan power management that can be used to completely alter the Nation's executive branch without dealing with the uncertainty of an election.
This discussion of political gamesmanship does not need to also find one or another to be a genius or a "1-D-10-T" (as the old blond joke goes).