Why not Gore-Clinton (Bill) in '08???

[Wordie]

They were a success before...they could do it again. And Clinton COULD run for VP, couldn't he?

[Tommy_J]

1. I like it!!

[SaveElmer]

2. Nope...constitutionally barred

He cannot serve more than 2 terms as Prez...under any circumstance

[Wordie]

5. But I'm not suggesting Clinton run for Prez, but for VP.

[bowens43]

9. He can't.

The person who runs for VP has to be eligible to be the president. Clinton isn't.

[Wordie]

12. You're certain that this is *specifically* disallowed???

[jobycom]

13. Check out post 10

[mattclearing]

29. It's not true.

The wording is "elected." If he were VP, he would become President by way of sucession.

[SaveElmer]

35. Barred by the 12th amendment...

No one who is constitutionally barred from being elected President can be elected Vice President...

[mattclearing]

27. Wrong.

He cannot be ELECTED to more than 2 terms.

[SaveElmer]

34. Prohibited by the 12th Amendment...

Last line

"But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. "

[mattclearing]

36. He is not consitutionally ineligible.

He is over 35 and a natural-born citizen. He cannot be elected to the Presidency, but he is constitutionally eligible. That's like saying that a speaker of the house who was once president for two terms can't take over if it becomes necessary.

It's probably for the Supreme Court to decide, but as it is, I think it's a loophole.

[SaveElmer]

37. 12th Amendment is very clear...

That no one can be elected Vice President, if he is constitutionally barred from being President...

Your scenario does not hold because the speaker would not be elected Vice President. Here is the amendment in its entirety with the relevent portion highlighted

The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--the person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

I'll amend my comments slightly. It is very remotely possible that the court would not hold Clinton ineligible to be VP, because there is a constitutional avenue for him to attain the office (If he was elected speaker and the Pres and VP croaked), and therefore the 12th amendment would not apply. I highly doubt that the court would make this interpretation. It was clearly the intention of the 22nd amendment that the President hold the office no more that 8 years.

[WI_DEM]

3. nice thought but no

Bill Clinton cannot act as VP if he cannot succeed to the presidency, which he is constitutionally barred from serving more than two terms. We have the Repukes to blame for this too--becuz they passed it to make sure there was no new FDR.

[Atman]

7. Constitution? What's that?

What the hell is barred by the constitution anymore? It is a quaint document, out dated.

Bush proved it.

Bring on Big Dawg 08!

[lonestarnot]

11. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper." GWB

[Wordie]

8. Are you sure? I don' think there's anything in the Constitution about this

is there? And if he was VP, and Gore could not continue for some reason, couldn't he just be skipped over? Does the legislation preventing more than 2 terms in the presidency specifically forbid this sort of scenario?

Think about it...they would win in a landslide. The Republicans wouldn't stand a chance.

[bowens43]

14. For a person to be eligable to run for VP

he must also be eligable to run for president.

The 12th Amendment:

'But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.'

[Wordie]

26. See jobycom's approach in post #10...creative, no?

[jobycom]

10. Specifically, Amendments 12 and 22, although there is wiggle room

12-- "...But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."

22-- "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once."

Technically, this is always interpreted as meaning Clinton can't be VP, but it does not actually have to mean that. Clinton is eligible to "hold" the office of the presidency again, since he meets all the age and citizenship requirements. But the 22nd bans him from being "elected" more than twice, etc. So, technically and literally, Clinton could BE president again, he just could not be ELECTED president again.

Not likely to be interpreted that way, but that is what it says. Unless I missed something somewhere.

[Wordie]

15. It would be poetic justice for Bush's own Constitutional interpretations.

:rofl:

[jobycom]

22. Better yet, when Cheney and Bush are impeached

allow Cheney to resign as part of a plea bargain, and appoint Bill VP, then make Bush resign. It might look like the Rapture, what with all the neocons spontaneously combusting!

[Wordie]

24. OMG

:rofl:

:woohoo:

:rofl:


That idea beats mine hands down! LOL

[SaveElmer]

38. I believe...

He cannot be elected vice president or president. He is clearly constitutionally barred from being elected President, which makes him ineligible from being elected Vice President. I see your point that since there is some bizarre scenario where he becomes speaker or something and the Pres and VP croak, he is not necessarily constitutionally barred...but this interpretation is unlikely to hold water.

[jobycom]

41. Belief is irrelevant, the law is the key

"He is clearly constitutionally barred from being elected President, which makes him ineligible from being elected Vice President."

Thee first part of that statement is true, the second part an interpretation. Nothing in the two passages I quoted bans a two-term president specifically from being elected VP. That interpretation is based only on the passage which says that a VP has to be Constitutionally eligible "to be" president. Nothing in the Constitution says Clinton is ineligible "to be" president, only that he can't be "elected" president. Therefore, nothing specifically says he can't be elected VP. Read it a couple more times, it'll sink in.

As for whether it would be interpreted that way, I don't know. Technically, as you recall, Cheney and Bush couldn't receive the electoral votes from Texas, since both were residents of Texas, but Cheney used a loophole to override that requirement, otherwise Bush would not be President.

[SaveElmer]

44. It's not a 50/50 proposition as much as you would like it to be...

The only way Bill Clinton would be constitutionally eligible is if he was elected speaker of the house (or other office in the line of succession) and all above him died. The clear intent of the 22nd amendment is to limit a person to two terms.

As to Cheney, I believe he just switched his residency to Wyoming. Not really a loophole, just the result of modern methods of communication and transportation.

As to the practical realities of it, if Bill Clinton were put on the ticket as VP, what do you think would be the media focus....excatly what we have been talking about here. And as soon as they got elected, there would be lawsuits etc.

[Wordie]

45. What's that about electoral votes?

I don't recall anything about that. What was it about, jobycom?

I do seem to recall that Cheyney changed his residence, didn't he? ...to avoid something disallowing a prez and VP coming from the same state, if I recall. Is that what you're talking about?

[wakeme2008]

4. well

[iamthebandfanman]

6. no no no it should be ...

Gore/Clinton(hillary) in 08!

im tellin' ya, unstopable.
the name recognition itself is enough i think

[longship]

18. Hillary hate trumps name recognition.

Hillary on the ticket would be a near kiss of death for the ticket. The Repugs would stop at nothing to oppose the ticket. IMHO, it would be better to put somebody relatively unknown, like Sebelius, Napolitano, or somebody from the House than put a Gore presidency at risk by running Hillary with him.

Note: I do not dislike Hillary Clinton. Her Senate voting record is mostly very, very good. But, she's pissed off many progressives with her position on Iraq. At best, it would be a problematic candidacy. I just don't think she could win a general election at the national level.

BTW, I think that there *has* to be a woman on the ticket. I would bet my bottom dollar that the Repugs will have a woman on theirs. (Probably, *not* Condi.)

[iamthebandfanman]

40. i dunno

i think by putting her in the VP slot you take away alot of peoples fear of her being in charge but at the same time have a woman running for a high office.
i really think itd appeal to alot of people
obviously i could be wrong though

[longship]

43. I like her, but only as a Senator.

She's an excellent Senator. But I could not support her for national office.

[im10ashus]

20. No way.

Hillary is too controversial. She will never get the nomination.

[Wordie]

21. Nah...Hillary isn't loved the way Bill is. The whole point of this idea is

for an unstoppable ticket. People would remember the good economic times of the Clinton Administration. It would be a landslide.

[jobycom]

33. Hillary would be unstoppable. There's a misconception that her negative

approval ratings would kill her campaign, but Bill's were just as negative in 92, and had barely improved by 96. Reagan's and Nixon's were even more negative just before they were elected, too.

Name recognition is a lot more important than public opinion. Hillary is seen as smart and competent, but bitchy, and too extreme (oddly, both sides are convinced she's too extreme in the opposite direction).

Rather than working to get her name out there, all she would have to do is convert her image. That's not as hard to do. It might even work in her favor, as the race would become between Hillary's good image and Hillary's bad image, and the Repub would get less discussion.

The positives are that she's a different direction from Bush, she would be the first female president if elected (that would generate more excitement than we've seen in decades), and she's a tie-in to America's peak era.

I think she'd be a steamroller. As VP, I don't know if she would have the same impact, but run her as president, and she's a shoe-in.

[LynneSin]

16. Only if it was Hillary, Bill can't be VP

Constitution although I suppose in this atmosphere the constitution is pretty much a moot point anymore!

[Wordie]

19. See posts #10 and #15...

If they can play fast and loose with the Constitution, why can't we?

It would be...

Strict Construction!

[in_cog_ni_to]

17. Have Clinton and Gore made up? I know Al was pretty pissed at Bill

for the blowjob thingy. Do they even speak these days?

[Wordie]

23. I'm sure they would to save the country. eom

[FreedomAngel82]

25. If only....

[Wordie]

28. Well, how bout Gore-Carter then? Carter has one more term to go. eom

[Cleita]

30. I suggested Carter some time ago for the same reason.

I got jumped on by most of DU because he was too old.

[Wordie]

32. Well, a Gore-Carter ticket might overcome those objections. After all,

Gore's still quite young. So the age concerns might not be a factor.

You know, I'm not certain if I'm serious about these ideas or not. I was somewhat joking when I first posted, but maybe it really would be a great idea.

[MoonRiver]

31. I'll settle for Gore and virtually anybody!

Don't think Clinton can be on the ticket though.

[Nye Bevan]

39. The issue would end up in court

Constitutional experts differ on whether this would be allowed, notwithstanding the certainty that some DUers express. It would depend upon the interpretation of "eligible".

I think Bill could be a *great* Secretary of State, however-- and this is definitely allowed.

[0007]

42. Not a bad idea!