Chaos theory [considering terrorist attack on presidential candidates]

Boston Globe ^ | May 9, 2004 | Charlie Savage

[An.American.Expatriate]

What a twit the author is!!

The answer is quite simple. "The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States."

In such a case as the author "fears", the Congress would have to designate a new day for chosing the electors and a new president would then be chosen.

Furthermore, "Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector." - thus, the legislatures of the states could appoint the electors themselves - without a popular vote!!

It would be a nightmare and require a lot of "leadership" - by the states, the Congress, and the (sucessor) to the President - but it is NOT a "nobody knows".

[nicollo]

The Presidential Electors were re-pledged to the new ticket, and the election went on as before.

Add to your list James S. Sherman, Republican Vice Presidential candidate in 1912 who died shortly before the national election. The Republican ticket remained the same, with Presidential candidate and dead running mate. Shortly before the Electoral College was to meet, Sherman was replaced on the ballot by the great Nicholas Murray Butler.

The ticket lost, of course, but Butler got Sherman's 8 votes.

[LurkedLongEnough]

LOL!

[MadJack]

Al Sharpton has nothing to worry about.

[RightWhale]

While most Americans continue to bury their heads in the sand, it would be well to consider what could happen. The assassination of the Chechen President and the attack on the Iraq oil pipeline [what's happening with that?] show that disruption is relatively easy. We should all be flexible and ready to step in, just as if we were soldiers on the front. Just as if there were a war. Especially as this war comes to resemble wars we are more familiar with.

[RUCKUS INC.]

It certainly hasn't hindered their voters from voting...

[thoughtomator]

What's this "nobody knows" stuff? The election would proceed as scheduled, and the Constitutional order of succession would apply.

Just because it's frightening to contemplate doesn't mean there's no answer!

[cvq3842]

Let's hope we never have to worry about it! :)

[Gorjus]

Back before so much power was concentrated in the Federal government, the stakes were a lot lower. The public would accept the scenarios you lay out because they didn't feel all that connected with the decision. They knew their Electors as well as they knew who the Presidential candidates were, and they had already accepted the idea of trusting the Electors to use judgment in their decisions.

None of that applies anymore. There would definitely be lawsuits in the cases you outline. Do we want to rely on precedent many (especially many in the media) would consider irrelevant?

I'd rather see it codified into law (and I agree the current Presidential Succession Act does not apply).

Just as a sign of where we've come, remember Gore's strategy for the 2000 election. He wasn't counting on winning Florida (though of course that would have been acceptable to him). He was counting on delaying the decision in Florida until after the Electoral College met. If the Florida vote were still in contention, he could challenge the Electors from Florida - and with them out of the count he'd win. After that, he could challenge any meeting or vote of the Florida Electors on the basis that the Electoral College had already voted. That's the sort of trickery that the parties (at least the Dems) play now.

And that was why the Supreme Court prevented any further recount. The recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court was clearly unConstitutional, but why not order one that provide for all voters to be treated equally? Because if it delayed past the meeting of the Electoral College - and it would have - then there's a whole new Constitutional issue in question.

It's not as neat as it once was because the Dems are in a win-at-any-cost mode. They'd challenge Electors who voted at all if they voted for dead men. They'd challenge Electors who voted for replacements the people never got a chance to vote for. They'd do whatever they could to steal the election.

And I assume over at DU they think the same thing about Republicans. So there should be a clear, recognized method for addressing the problem - and one that is established ahead of time.

[Slings and Arrows]

What's wrong with Congress pre-confirming the President-elect's Cabinet nominees before his inauguration?

Nothing at all...that was my point. I was just worried that a president of low moral character (*coughCLINTONcough*) might somehow hijack the process to sabotage the incoming administration.

[ExSoldier]

"........in accord with the Constitution."

But, the Constitution has been silent, or more properly the USSC has been silent and therefore accepts the power of the almighty Executive Order. The disaster EO's would be inevitably tripped in the event of such an attack. In that case, FEMA assumes total control of the country ~tinfoil hat begins to glow, propeller on top spins madly~ and get's to keep it until Rapture.

The was a thread on FR some time ago, maybe somebody can find it and post a link? "FEMA: The Dark Underbelly" was the title.

[Valin]

History, of which the writer is ignorant, provides the answer.

Charlie Savage, a journalist living in Washington, D.C.
A journalist living in Washington, D.C I think that says it all.

[foreverfree]

bump

[FreedomCalls]

WORST-CASE SCENARIO number one: It's the night before Election Day. Across America, voters turn on their televisions hoping to catch the final hours of the presidential campaign and instead hear the awful news. In coordinated attacks, terrorists have killed their favored candidates for both president and vice president. Now what?

Then the Trident submarine commanders exercise their command authority to launch their nuclear weapons without Presidential authorization and Mecca, Medina, Jedda, Riyadh, Damascus, Amman, Tehran, Cairo, Mogidishu, Karachi, Lahore, and a few others disappear into a blackened vapor cloud the likes of which the world has never seen.

We should go to DEFCON 3 on October 1st just as a precaution and a warning to anyone wanting to start something.

[milemark]

What if the hypothetical terrorist attack happened on inauguration day and is large enough to take out the President and Vice President and the President and VP elect, if they are different and the Congress and Senate and Supreme Court?

Are some key officials kept away from the inauguration in the same way that some are kept away from the State of the Union Address?

[Aut Pax Aut Bellum]

Well, as Teddy K. always says :"We'll drive off that bridge when we get to it..."

[BigSkyFreeper]

If enough damage is done to the chain of succession, we could be uttering the words President-Select Donald Rumsfeld.