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US Politics

US Politics. The Presidency. Overview. Powers of the President Organization of the Presidency Electing the President Removal and Succession. Powers of the President. Formal Powers. Appointment. Treaties and Foreign Policy. Veto/Sign Legislation. Powers of the President.

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US Politics

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  1. US Politics The Presidency

  2. Overview • Powers of the President • Organization of the Presidency • Electing the President • Removal and Succession

  3. Powers of the President Formal Powers Appointment Treaties and Foreign Policy Veto/Sign Legislation

  4. Powers of the President • Special Executive Powers • Executive Orders • A rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect of law. • They can • enforce legislative statutes • enforce the Constitution or treaties • establish or modify rules and practices of executive administrative agencies • Published in The Federal Register

  5. Powers of the President • Executive Privilege • The right of executive officials to withhold information from or to refuse to appear before a legislative committee • Emergency Powers • An inherent power exercised by the president during a period of national crisis

  6. Powers of the President • Informal Powers • Persuasion • Personal communication skills • Partisan divide in Congress • Place in term • Public Opinion ratings

  7. Powers of the President Source: Wall Street Journal

  8. Electing the President • Longest campaign election of any elected office in US, probably the world • Unique electoral system in US • Three stages

  9. Primary Season • To win presidency, candidates generally need to secure nomination of major party • Since the 1972 presidential election, both parties have relied on party primary elections to solve this

  10. Primary Season • Primary Elections run from late January through June in the year preceding the general election (2008 calendar here) • Elections come in 2 types: • closed (must be party member to vote) • open (open to all registered voters) (state by state summaries available here)

  11. Primary Season • The aim in these elections is to win delegates to the party conventions • Each party allocates a set number of delegates to each state, based on the number of registered party members of that party in the state

  12. Primary Season • In addition, the Democratic party has 796 “superdelegates” who are party leaders and who are not pledged to vote for any particular candidate prior to the convention (NJ has 18 of these) • The Republicans have 123 unpledged party leaders who are at the convention with voting rights

  13. Primary Season • The two major parties use different systems for allocating delegates though • Republicans generally use “winner-take-all” format • the candidate that wins the primary gets all that state’s delegates [2008 totals for Republican primaries here] • Democrats use “proportional” rep • candidates are allocated delegates based on the percentage of the vote received [2008 totals for Democratic primaries here]

  14. Nominating Convention • Held late summer (usually the last two weeks of August through early September) • Nominate president, vice-president, and adopt party platform Democratic Convention (8/25-28)Republican Convention (9/1-4)

  15. General Election Campaign • Generally runs from end of convention through the election • Election is held the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November

  16. General Election • To be elected president, candidate must receive a majority of votes cast in the Electoral College

  17. General Election • Formula for allocating seats is: # of Reps + # of Sen = E.C.V 435 + 100 = 535 D.C. gets 3 (23rd Amendment) so 538/2 = 269+1 = 270 votes needed to be president

  18. General Election • Aim is to win enough states so that the electoral college vote is over 270 • This means it is possible for a candidate to win more popular votes and still lose the election (1824, 1876, 1888, 2000)

  19. Electoral College • Members of the Electoral College vote in each state (they do not collectively assemble) • Cast ballots on the 1st Monday after the 2nd Wednesday in December.

  20. Electoral College • If no candidate received 270 votes, then: • House of Representatives elects president • take top 3 vote getters • each states gets 1 vote • Senate elects vice president • take top 2 vote getters • each senator gets 1 vote

  21. Vice Presidency • Same requirements as president, except cannot be from same state as the president (12th Amendment) • President of the Senate • Other responsibilities as designated by the President

  22. Removal and Succession • Removal: • Election • Impeachment • Resignation • Death • Illness

  23. Removal • Illness: 25th Amendment • President informs Congress • If President unable to inform Congress, then VP does it, with majority vote of cabinet • If dispute over whether President is able to return to office, 2/3rds vote of Congress decides whether VP stays or not

  24. Succession • Succession Act of 1947 • Pres • VP • Speaker of the House • President pro tempore of Senate • Cabinet Secretaries chronologically arranged by creation of department

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