Mr. Morden
Atlas Legend
Posts: 44,066
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« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2012, 10:16:08 PM » |
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If the House Speaker and/or President pro temp don't actually want to serve as acting president, can they refuse? Or is the Speaker automatically acting president, as long as he's Speaker of the House and the pres. and VP slots are vacant?
In the modern era, isn't there a good chance that the House and Senate *wouldn't* resolve an electoral college deadlock, as the voters view the presidency as the most important office by far, and wouldn't look kindly on members of Congress of the party they support trading the presidency away for anything?
If, say, you had a situation in which Obama/Biden went up against Romney/Rubio in 2012, and there's an electoral college tie, and the House deadlocks, but the Senate picks either Biden or Rubio for VP (depending on which party has a majority), might we really just end up with Acting President Biden or Rubio for two years, at which point the 2014 midterms would determine whether the House can actually resolve the 2012 presidential election, and elect either Obama or Romney to the remainder of the term?
EDIT: Actually, that's not a bad what-if scenario, if anyone wants to write a timeline for it.
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