It could be Obama-Palin or McCain-Biden

Seeing the closeness of the polls, Washburn University professor Bob Beatty wonders if the general election won’t bring about a 270-270 tie in electoral votes for Barack Obama and John McCain. If that happened, Beatty writes in the Topeka Capital-Journal, the House would select the president, with each state’s delegation casting one vote, and the Senate would select the vice president, with each senator casting one vote: “So, yes, it’s possible that on Jan. 20, 2009, the chief justice of the Supreme Court could be swearing in President Barack Obama and Vice President Sarah Palin. Wouldn’t that be something?”

8 Comments

  1. JWink
    Posted October 3, 2008 at 6:24 am | Permalink

    So, put the four names in a hat and draw them out in order: Pres, V.P., Sec of State and Treasury. The new Democracy!

  2. samkan
    Posted October 3, 2008 at 7:10 am | Permalink

    >Seeing the closeness of the polls<

    Which polls are you looking at Rhonda? This must have been written right after the RNC.

  3. mom
    Posted October 3, 2008 at 8:22 am | Permalink

    This is a what-if question, samkan. What I found interesting in the VP debate is the notion that Sarah Palin thinks the Vice President has some role in the House that is wider than the Constitution allows. As Joe Biden pointed out very clearly, the only thing the Constitution allows for the VP is to be the deciding vote when there is a tie. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Just exactly what Constitution is Palin reading?

  4. ksfarmgrrl
    Posted October 3, 2008 at 8:29 am | Permalink

    “I just got 3rd Quarter reports from my investments — mutual funds, 401k, some inherited stocks — and it’s more than a little disconcerting.”

    The King George Version? KGV?

  5. BlueJay
    Posted October 3, 2008 at 8:29 am | Permalink

    “Vice President Sarah Palin. ”

    Huh? Only if the cons win back the Senate. I don’t think there is any danger of that.

  6. ksfarmgrrl
    Posted October 3, 2008 at 8:30 am | Permalink

    Oops. I meant that in response to the version of the constitution she is reading, not MonkeyHawk’s comments.

    I think it’s the unabridged KGV.

  7. bth
    Posted October 3, 2008 at 9:18 am | Permalink

    The interesting thing about this speculation is that the most likely ’split’ outcome would be McCain-Biden. The reason – in the House each state gets one vote – no population weighting at all. I haven’t looked carefully at the House line-up but I suspect that there just might be 26 states with GOP delegations (like KS will have). Remember – small states count as much as big ones.

  8. samkan
    Posted October 3, 2008 at 11:31 am | Permalink

    >Just exactly what Constitution is Palin reading?<

    Gee, I don’t know mom… I thought there was only one. Maybe someone should ask her to clarify her response……