Hypothetical Question(s)

[Pilgrim]

As we all know, John McCain is swiftly approaching 72 years old and has a history of health problems. Here's the question: suppose he (or any other candidate for that matter) were to assume room temperature during the campaign before November, but after the party's nominating convention - how would his replacement be determined? Just to complicate matters, let's assume said candidate selected a real turkey as his running mate that would not be a suitable replacement. My initial thought was that the party's delegates would have to reconvene and select another nominee. However, consider the disadvantage the new nominee would be working under. Months/years of fundraising and campaigning would be needed to catch up with the opponent. What about the extensive primary and caucus process - would the election have to be delayed? I'm sure the respective political parties have provisions for this scenario, but are they practical given the enormous amount of time and money that goes into presidential elections? Just some food for thought.

 

[Moot]

The party would have to quickly agree on an alternative candidate.

This happened during a senatorial race in Minnesota in 2002. The incumbent, Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash less than two weeks prior to the election. The party dusted off former V.P. Walter Mondale (ending speculation that he had been dead) and he was trounced by Norm Coleman.

This also occurred in Missouri and the deceased candidate won the election.

 

[greg334]

I would venture to say depending on how close that this happened to the election, the party may have to go with the one they selected to run.

This is not like a state run election, Congress members are selected on the state level but a federal level election and really the only election that is made at the federal level - meaning that the rules are exclusively federal - so the election would not be postponed or anything like that. This is one drawback to the primaries, they spend so much of our tax money on a selection process that means nothing in the end.

If McCain died while we ramped up to the election, the repubs could be in trouble and we would greet people with comrade soon. That sounds cool "Hi Comrade Moot"

Oh and by the way folks, you did see that they added more 'super delegets' on the dem's side? Makes you wonder....

 

[dieseldiva]

That super-delegates thing is such a joke.

 

[Pilgrim]

"I would venture to say depending on how close that this happened to the election, the party may have to go with the one they selected to run. "

Greg - are you saying that they would have to stick with a ticket that has a deceased candidate? This, if permissable, would allow the VP candidate to assume the presidency in the unlikely event this ticket should win the election. It might be feasible if the VP candidate was someone like Romney who would have recently campaigned - but what if it was someone like Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) who would be virtually unknown south of Chicago? There must be provisions in place to deal with the untimely death of a candidate - I'm just wondering what they are.

 

[greg334]

Yea, that's what I am getting at. Throughout the primaries, the names were in the news, so the chances of an unknown being on the ticket is slim to non-existent being on the VP ticket to begin with. The party would have to do some sort of damage control and knowing how they operate, they already have a plan but it all depends on when it happened. If it was a week or a less than a month before the election, then there would be a big problem for the party, and I can see the party putting up the VP to run with the original candidate's name still appearing.

This brings up another problem, there should be some sort of separation between the two, voting for a pair is not giving us a choice and the 'running' mate should not be tied to the candidate.

Well I digress, the cost of the election at the no return point is in the millions, the coordination alone is a big task, to have one drop I think would not be an issue for the country but for the party.

Remember we don't 'elect' the president, the congress does. They may decide that if the VP candidate is to be president (which there is no rule that says he/she can't) then they can select a VP themselves, it is not a party thing at that point.

 

[letzrockexpress]

MAN!! where do you guys come up with this stuff??? I guess loads must be scarce this week. Since the VP candidate is picked by the Presidential candidate, should the individual at the top of the ticket croak before the electionthen I think all bets should be off. The person who received the second most votes in the primary should be the nominee and be allowed to pick his own VP candidate. We do allegedly live in a democratic society and I feel this would be the only way to keep some semblence of one. Allowing the previously chosen VP candidate to take the nomination allows to much room for bait and switch...
This is just my opinion mind you... I don't know what the official protocol is but I haven't posted in a while and this seemed like as good a place as any to get back on the horse....

 

[Moot]

Like I said; The party would have to quickly agree on an alternative candidate.

 

[Black Sheep]

Given that unfortunate event, I can envision the Republican Party and Mitt Romney running toward each other like two lovers with open arms. Truth be told, I'll be there's a lot of the GOP that wishes more with each passing day that he was the candidate instead instead of McCain.