I've been trying to figure out just what would/should/could happen.
The way we elect the president and vice president is pretty clear:
Amendment 12
The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;
The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.
The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.
So, even though we, the people of the United States of America, do not have a separate choice of VP and Pres, the electors do.
So, if Obama's not eligible (note the word IF), then some things could happen out of this. First, The electors could not choose him, obviously, as their candidate. But, they
could choose Biden as VP. Meanwhile, with no one to turn over to, Bush could remain president until the 4th of March, 2009, while waiting for the House to pick a president.
OR, the electors could, viably, pick McCain as president since his numbers were so close (assuming that this is resolved against Obama by Dec 13th (when the electors vote)). And, if they did, would they choose Palin, or Biden as VP?
OR, the electors could, viably, pick Hillary, since she got more Democratic nominating votes than Obama anyway.
OR, the electors could pick Obama, then have the SCOTUS throw Obama out as unqualified, and the House could pick - Pelosi? Dean? Reid? Biden? Hillary? GORE?
This is just a hypothetical game, mind you. But, if we go on the assumption (it's just a game, just an assumption) that Obama is not constitutionally qualified, then how do YOU see it playing out?
read the name at the top of the page
