The Roles of the President

• The Ceremonial Head of Government

• Formally greets head of state

• Entertains in state dinners

• Performs ceremonial duties

Chief of State

• vested with “the executive Power”

• It is his/her role to execute and administer laws.

• Appoints several thousand officials

• Supervises administration of executive department

• Takes care that laws are faithfully executed

Chief Executive

•Directs the huge executive branch of the Federal Government•Employs more than 2.7 million civilians and spends $3 trillion a year

Chief Administrator

• Makes foreign policy • Represents U.S. in

foreign relations • Makes treaties with

the approval of 2/3 of Senate

• Appoints ambassadors, ministers, and consuls

Chief Diplomat

• Civilian military leader• Chief of the Armed

forces • Determines major

strategies during war • Power to declare war • Uses military power in

domestic disorder to reinforce laws

Commander in Chief

•Introduces most legislation•Shapes congress overall agenda while in office•Vetoes bills •Recommends measures for Congress to consider •Gives Congress information on the state of the union

Chief Legislator

• Automatically the acknowledged leader of their party

• Leads the party and shapes their agenda

Chief of Party

•the president is expected to be “the representative of all the people”•He/she is expected to take the high road and champion public interest against private interest.

Chief Citizen

Its Good to Be King… err.. President

Annual Salary = $400,000Expense Allowance = $50,000132 room mansionPrivate jet, helicopter, and limoPrivate getaway location

Presidential Succession Act of 1947•VP•Speaker of House•President pro tempore (Senate)•Secretary of State•Treasury, Defense, Attorney General~…..•18th Secretary of Homeland Security

Succeed the Successful

The jobs of “the other guy”Preside over the SenateDecide the question of Presidential Disability“Balance the Ticket”• Sarah Palin• Joe Biden

“The most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” ~ John AdamsUntil 1967 the VP had been vacant 18 times (that’s just under half of the administrations) 9 by succession, 2 by resignation, 7 by death

Balance This

Direct Election of President •People would not be informed enough to choose•Process could become corrupted easily•Would lead to “disorder” (how to count all the votes)

Congress chooses President•President would be “under the legislative thumb”•Originally favored by most of the framers•Congress was most familiar with candidates

This one’s too hot, this one’s too cold

Presidential Electors• Chosen by each state• Equal to number of Senators and Representatives in that state• Each elector would cast two electoral votes (votes for a Presidential Candidate)

What makes a good Presidential Elector?

“Free agents”“The most enlightened and respectable citizens” from each state

This plan is juuuust right…. Kinda

So what’s the plan, Stan?Whoever gets the most votes would be President.Whoever finishes second would be Vice President

Election of 1800 breaks the systemPolitically aligned Electors agree to vote/support party membersEach party nominated 2 candidates•Ideally one would win President with the other winning Vice President

Voting the Party Line

Another Hiccup Along the Way

Dem-Rep vote all their votes for both Jefferson and Burr resulting in a tieThe Constitution did not amend for a tieFederalist disliked both candidatesCongress voted 36 times before declaring Jefferson the winner

12th amendment was passed in 1804Changed the way electoral voting worked• “The electors shall name in their ballots the person voted as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President”•What does this mean?• Still cast two votes•One for President and one for Vice-President

Learning from our mistakes

National Conventions•Constitution does not provide for Presidential Elections•Major parties use a system that they designed to select candidates•Delegates of the party vote on who should be their parties nomination•But how are delegates chosen? (377 – 378)

The Long Road to the White House

Over ¾ of all Delegates come from states that hold primaries.Presidential Primary: an election in which a party’s voters choose some or all of a State party delegates to the National Convention AND express a preference for presidential nomination

How important are Primaries?

Primaries began in the early 1900 to battle party boss-dominated electionsEach state has different rules for primaries

New Hampshire has a law stating that its primary take place “one week before any other states primaries”Iowa holds one of the first Caucuses Because of their early dates a lot of front runners are determined here.

Who’s on first?

Winner-take-all: the candidate who won the preference vote automatically wins the support of all of the delegates chosen at that primaryProportional representation: any candidate who seeks the parties nomination AND wins at least 15% of the votes cast at the primary receive a proportion of votes equal to what they won.

Mine all mine

Proportional Representation:•40% votes = 40% of delegates•60% votes = 60% of delegates•So if a state has 40 delegates and someone got 45% of vote they would receive 18 delegates

Winner-take-all•40% of votes = 0% of delegates•60% of votes = 100% of delegates

What does it mean?

Platform: A parties official position on key issues; what a party stands for; what a party hopes to accomplish.Plank: One issue of a parties platform.So a platform is made up of planks… get it?

Walking the Plank(s)