I’m puzzled. Perhaps those passing through the Lockerroom can clear things up for me. I’ll take to lunch the first person to email a credible answer to questions a) and b) noted at the bottom of this entry. Credible answers must include some reference or citation to the U.S. Constitution, the US Code or precedent. I’ll be the final arbiter of all entries and will post the answer as well as the funniest suggestion in this space at a later date.
The U.S. Constitution calls for election of the president and vice-president through the electoral college system. The 2000 election gave all Americans who pay even the scantest amount of attention to politics an opportunity to bone up on how it works, why we have it etc. In essence, states elect a slate of electors who cast ballots. The ballots are certified by state officials according to state law and sent to Washington to be counted with all the rest of the ballots from other states at a joint session of Congress by the President of the Senate. A simple majority in the electoral college, 270 electors, is enough to win the election. In the case that no candidate (or slate of candidates since the president and vice president run together) wins a majority, then the decision is made by Congress. While improbable, this is is quite possible.
In such a situation, the U.S. House is given authority to pick the president and the U.S. Senate has the job of picking the vice president. The rules for this process are spelled out in the 12th Amendment. In the House, each state delegation is given one vote to choose from among the the top three electoral vote-getters. A simple majority wins. In the Senate, each Senator has one vote and may choose from among the top two vice presidential electoral vote-getters.
Here’s the puzzler: a) Is there any legal problem with John Edwards voting for himself? b) Should the VP election be cast into the Senate and the vote results in a tie (with or without Senator Edwards’ vote), would Vice President Cheney serving in the position of President of the Senate be able to vote for himself? And finally, c) Regardless of the answers to questions a) and b), would Chris Matthews’ head explode if we woke up on a fine December morning and were planning for a Bush-Edwards or a Kerry-Cheney Administration?
While I don’t know the answer, my guess is that a hint can be gleaned from how Speaker Clay would have likely behaved had he not been fourth in the first round of electoral college balloting. Send in your answers soon.
