Comments on: Vice Presidential Powers

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 15:59:08 +0000

The OVP is refusing to comply with an EO because it feels that it is a separate and unique branch. That's where the concern is not some list of names.

By: Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator

Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:32:44 +0000

FBI Agent Testifies In Libby Case...

Former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby acknowledged he may have discussed with Vice ...

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:25:11 +0000

"He’s the President of the Senate; yet he votes only in case of a tie." Other than symbolic, I'm not sure where the 101st senator's vote would matter otherwise. Other than to make a tie if a senator was skipping class to run for president. The 'created tie' would then lead to other issues.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:04:26 +0000

an effective prohibition on the president and the vice president coming from the same state When Reagan was courting Ford to run as his veep in 1980, there were concerns that both were California residents. The solution was for Ford to "move" back to Michigan, from when he hailed and had served in the House. In 2000, it happened again, with Dick Cheney having moved to GWB's home state of Texas to run Halliburton. This was solved by Cheney filing papers re-establishing residency in Wyoming, where I believe he still had a home, and where he had served in Congress. So, "effective" might not be the proper modifier for "prohibition" in this case :)

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:59:13 +0000

After re-reading the 12th Amendment for the first time in a very long time, something struck me that I hadn't noticed before: there's an effective prohibition on the president and the vice president coming from the same state. I doubt that's an issue this time around (all of the leading candidates in both parties are from different states) but I can imagine it might be.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:34:00 +0000

the first few quadrennials the president and vice president didn’t run as a ticket—the vice president was whoever came in second

Right. The 12th Amendment changed that. The Framers did not envision political parties in the modern sense or the absurdity of having a president and vice president run against one another, as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson did in 1800. Jefferson won, of course. Talk about your awkward transition periods!

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:06:42 +0000

Also IIRC for the first few quadrennials the president and vice president didn't run as a ticket—the vice president was whoever came in second. Can't get much more independent than that.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:05:06 +0000

Or, as one of FDR's vice presidents put it, the office isn't worth “a bucket of warm spit” (although I'm inclined to believe that “Cactus Jack” Garner wasn't kidding when he said that journalists had cleaned up his language a bit).

Digby continues to be incensed about the pesky Constitution.