Presidential Succession and Election - PowerPoint Presentation

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Presidential Succession and Election

Presidential Succession & the Vice Presidency

Presidential Succession

Presidential Succession

: The scheme by which a presidential vacancy is filled

.

Article II is vague regarding Presidential succession…does not explicitly state whether the V.P. is an “Acting President” as opposed to a “true” President.

25

th

Amendment deals with Presidential and Vice Presidential Succession.

Presidential Succession

(47 Total Slides)

1

Vice President of the United States

Joe Biden

 (D)

2

Speaker of the House

Paul Ryan (R)3President pro tempore of the SenateOrrin Hatch (R)4Secretary of StateJohn Kerry (D)5Secretary of the TreasuryJack Lew (D)6Secretary of DefenseAsh Carter (D)7Attorney GeneralLoretta Lynch (D)—Secretary of the InteriorSally Jewell (D)[a]8Secretary of AgricultureTom Vilsack (D)9Secretary of CommercePenny Pritzker (D)10Secretary of LaborThomas Perez (D)11Secretary of Health and Human ServicesSylvia Mathews Burwell (D)12Secretary of Housing and Urban DevelopmentJulián Castro (D)13Secretary of TransportationAnthony Foxx (D)14Secretary of EnergyErnest Moniz (D)—Acting Secretary of EducationJohn King, Jr. (D)[b]15Secretary of Veterans AffairsRobert McDonald (R)16Secretary of Homeland SecurityJeh Johnson (D)Jump up^

Presidential Succession Act of 1947

Congress fixes the order of succession following the V.P.

What about Presidential disability?

President can transfer power in cases of disability, even temporarily.

In 2002, President Bush had surgery for 2 hours. For these 2 hours, Bush transferred his power to V.P. Dick Cheney.

The Vice Presidency

“

I am Vice President. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything

.” – John Adams, 1

st

VP

“

The most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived

.” John Adams“Honorable and easy” , and “tranquil and unoffending”. Thomas JeffersonThrough much of history, the VP has been treated as an office of little importance.

The Vice Presidency

President Theodore Roosevelt was annoyed by a chandelier making a tinkling noise. He ordered it to be removed and said:

“

Take it to the office of the Vice President. He doesn’t have anything to do. It will keep him awake

.”

Yet, the VP is a heartbeat away from becoming the President of the U.S. (8 Presidents have died in office. 1 President has resigned).

Balance the Ticket

Usually, the presidential candidate picks someone who will

balance the ticket

– which means someone who can strengthen his chance of being elected by virtue of certain ideological, geographic, racial, ethnic, gender, or other characteristics.

Presidential Nominations

Remember, parties have committees and convention to nominate their candidate for President.

H

ow does this process begin?

Presidential Primary

– An election in which a party’s voters choose their preference among various contenders for their party’s presidential nomination

2016 Republican Primary

2016 Democratic Primary

The Primaries

Iowa held the first primary this

N.H. holds the first primary of any state every election year, in January.

The N.H. primaries are early indicator of success – so candidates spend a lot of time and money there.

Romney won the 2012 N.H. Primary.

The Caucus-Convention Process

Not all states have primaries, they use a “caucus-convention” process.

Iowa’s caucus gets the most attention, as it is the first of all caucuses.

Iowa Caucus in 1 Minute

Iowa Caucus: Explain Using Corn

We know how we nominate, but how do we elect?

Founding Fathers gave more time to the method for choosing the President than to any other matter.

A

gainst the two obvious ways: Electing the President by Congress or Electing the President by a direct vote of the people.

Why not elect by Congress?

Too political.

Hamilton said that to elect by way of Congress would be “too much under the legislative thumb.”

Why not elect by direct vote of the people?

At the time, the process would lead to “tumult and disorder”.

At the time, people were scattered over so wide an area they couldn’t know enough about the available candidates to make informed choices.

16

The Electoral College

E

lectoral College is the group of people (electors) chosen from each State and D.C. to formally select the President & V.P.

They case their Electoral Votes, which are votes cast by electors in the electoral college.

T

otal of 538 votes.

270 are needed to win.

17

Electoral College Map - 2016

How do we get those numbers?

Representatives + Senators = # of Electoral Votes

Virginia: 11 Representatives + 2 Senators = 13 Electoral Votes

Campaign Attention - 2004

(The purple hands represent a visit by a presidential campaign as the election was nearing its end.)

(Each green money sign represents 1 million dollars of campaign money spent as the election was nearing its end.)

-

Why do you think both presidential campaigns were targeting these states?

The Controversy

Elections of 1876, 1888,

2000, 2016

the winner of the election

did not

win the national popular vote, yet still won the presidency.

If a presidential candidate can win these 11 states:

CA, TX, NY, FL, IL, PA, OH, MI, GA, NJ, and NC

….then he/she will win the Presidency, despite losing the other 39 states.

On the other hand…

The Electoral College does have some positives:

Example of federalism – An idea our country was founded on. Gives the States a voice.

Prevents urban-centric victories : This means a President winning by simply winning heavily populated areas.

Final Thoughts

President must balance many different roles and jobs.

Though the V.P. is thought to be somewhat useless, the V.P. is a heartbeat away from being the President.

The way we nominate and elect our President is rather complex.

M

ajor controversy of this unit: The Electoral College. Is it fair?