Kerry's Running Mate: Bill Clinton?

[Brown]

Here's a column from the New York Times (registration required) suggesting that Bill Clinton could be John Kerry's running mate.

Mr. Clinton's strengths would compensate for Mr. Kerry's weaknesses almost perfectly. Not only is Mr. Clinton the most talented campaigner of his generation, but he is also a Southerner — and since 1948, when Harry S. Truman chose Senator Alben Barkley of Kentucky as his running mate, every successful Democratic ticket has included a Southern politician.

Besides, people might even pay to watch Bill Clinton debate Dick Cheney. So why not?

 

[Luke T.]

I guess I should have been more direct in my choice of topic title.

I'm too lazy to look up the Constitution right now, but if Clinton was VP under Kerry, could he be President again after already serving as the Prez for two terms if Kerry dies in office?

 

[peptoabysmal]

Oh great.

Dumb and Dumberer...

 

[Brown]

I'm too lazy to look up the Constitution right now, but if Clinton was VP under Kerry, could he be President again after already serving as the Prez for two terms if Kerry dies in office?

From the column:

The first objection, the constitutional one, can be disposed of easily. The Constitution does not prevent Mr. Clinton from running for vice president. The 22nd Amendment, which became effective in 1951, begins: "No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice."

No problem. Bill Clinton would be running for vice president, not president. Scholars and judges can debate how loosely constitutional language should be interpreted, but one need not be a strict constructionist to find this language clear beyond dispute. Bill Clinton cannot be elected president, but nothing stops him from being elected vice president.

 

[Luke T.]

Maybe Bill could be Hillary's running mate in 2008...

 

[hgc]

Maybe Bill could be Hillary's running mate in 2008...

Now you're cooking with gas. But a Kerry/Edwards or Kerry/Gephardt win this year could put those plans off til 2012.

One other problem, someone would have to move out of the house. President and VP cannot be from the same state (based on residency/voter registration). That's why Cheney picked up from Dallas, and registered to vote in Wyoming in the summer of 2000.

 

[Toastrider]

Oh please. If Kerry takes on Clinton, that means he gets to enjoy all the wonders of having a bona fide draft dodger and womanizer as his running mate.

Might as well just give Dubya the keys for another four years.

--Toasty

 

[peptoabysmal]

Just for fun, let me put on my Carnac hat and make a woo-woo prediction.

Hillary Clinton is going to be Kerry's running mate. Kerry gets elected in a hotly debated election (something about hanging chads). Kerry mysteriously dies in office and Hillary becomes President of the US. World peace soon follows and global warming is reduced to nothing.

Eenie meanie chili beanie, the spirits have spoken...

Edited to add: Oh yeah, and the defecit that the US has been operating under since the Vietnam war suddenly becomes a surplus again.

 

[Luke T.]

Oh please. If Kerry takes on Clinton, that means he gets to enjoy all the wonders of having a bona fide draft dodger and womanizer as his running mate.

Excellent!!!! And yet, somehow, we wouldn't hear a peep out of Michael Moore on this.

 

[Michael Redman]

One problem:

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

12th Amendment. You could argue that ineligible to run isn't the same as ineligible to hold, but I think the intent is pretty clear. Kind of sloppy from the Times.

 

[Brown]

Kind of sloppy from the Times.

This wasn't a report from the Times, but a column by Stephen Gillers, professor of law at New York University. Prof. Gillers is therefore responsible for the content.

I'm sure Prof. Gillers will hear about constitutional objections from others. I will check the Letters to the Editor tomorrow.

Prof. Gillers also ignores the realities of the political/judicial dynamic. Court fights snarled the 2000 election, resulting in the Supreme Court declaring a victory for Bush. The same folks who handed down that crappy decision (I say is was crappy because of the awful legal reasoning, not because I disagree with the result) are still on the bench. In other words, if Clinton were to be on the ticket, a suit would be filed, guaranteed. The suit would at a minimum cloud the election, and might end up in the Supreme Court, with the Court invalidating the Kerry-Clinton ticket.

 

[Michael Redman]

This wasn't a report from the Times, but a column by Stephen Gillers, professor of law at New York University. Prof. Gillers is therefore responsible for the content.

I kind of meant that it was sloppy of something in the Times. I guess that was sloppy of me.

 

[Nasarius]

I'm too lazy to look up the Constitution right now, but if Clinton was VP under Kerry, could he be President again after already serving as the Prez for two terms if Kerry dies in office?

Clinton could serve for another two years if he became President.

 

[Brown]

Originally posted by me
I'm sure Prof. Gillers will hear about constitutional objections from others. I will check the Letters to the Editor tomorrow.

The following is an excerpt from a letter to the Times from Joel K. Goldstein, a professor at St. Louis University School of Law:

Stephen Gillers's ingenious proposal that Senator John Kerry choose former President Bill Clinton as his running mate (Op-Ed, March 3) raises more constitutional problems than Mr. Gillers suggests.
...
But it makes little sense to construe the Constitution to bar Mr. Clinton from running again for president but to allow him to succeed to the presidency after having been elected vice president. The location of the sentence regarding vice-presidential eligibility in the 12th Amendment seems to equate qualifications to serve with those to be elected.