Ok my last thread after I read alot of the ones running which is sooo hard for me to believe leads me to this question..What are the qualifications for running for the President? And how do you chose what party to run under?
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02-11-04, 11:03 PM
PerfectPeach
Must be 35 years of age. Natural born citizen. Lived in the US, for I think, 14 years. I think there are 2 other qualifications but those are the only ones I can remember.

02-11-04, 11:16 PM
coldfuse
Perfect Peach has the qualification part of Article 2 of The United States Constitution nailed:

"No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States."

He or she must also:

1. take the oath of office (also in Article 2)

2. not have previously served two terms of office as President, or more than one term as an elected President plus over half of the remaining term of another President (22nd Amendment)

Are there any others not yet mentioned?

The thing that the Constitution fails to mention is the ability to raise the boatload of money necessary to run a strong campaign!

02-11-04, 11:26 PM
samantha
Thanks guys.. Smile

02-11-04, 11:41 PM
methos
As for chosing which party to run under, presidents are often career politicians who have been members of a party and run under it for other offices in the past. Whether the presidency is the first office or not, politicians generally pick a party that they agree with on most issue. There are probably cases also where someone has picked a party because they thought they could win more easily that way.

02-12-04, 06:43 PM
FredPuli
"Because they thought they could win more easily that way" How would that work in the US ? It assuredly works here in the UK.

Mr Blair is about as far from the old Labour Party and what it stands for, and as far from the traditional Labour candidate as it is possible to get.It stands for the blue-collar worker and the socialist.But why should an upper-middle class boy, educated in an exclusive private boarding school in Scotland , try his luck with hundreds or thousands of others like him trying to progress in the Conservative Party? In the Labour Party he'd be almost the only one with that background and to have one such speaking to middle England,in his educated, Southern English, voice would be a great trophy for them. No 'working class' Northern -accented son of toil he ! He sounds just like one of them, just like a Conservative Party candidate is supposed to sound ( not all do).

Of course, now he's there as top man the traditional left is horrified; he is like the cuckoo in the nest; he throws out old Labour 'ideals' as fast as possible.But he is there now; there is talk of his being removed by the traditionalists but so far they haven't done more than get quite close to defeating him,rebelliously, on a couple of bills.

And who is the leader of the Conservative Party opposing him? He, Mr Howard, is the son of poor Romanian refugees, who was educated at a free, 'state school' ,just like most people. The political world is sometimes not what it seems Smile

[This message was edited by FredPuli on 02-12-04 at 06:53 PM.]

02-12-04, 09:40 PM
methos

quote:Originally posted by FredPuli:
"Because they thought they could win more easily that way" How would that work in the US ?
....



One example that comes to mind is the rumor that General Clark joined the Democratic party because it was his best shot at becoming president. He certainly wouldn't have had a chance this year as a Republican.

02-12-04, 10:25 PM
DorianGreyed
While I can't find it because the Search feature isn't working, someone posted a link fairly recently which stated that President Eisenhower ran as a Republican because he believed in the party system, and the US had been under a Democratic president for the previous 20 years. That post also stated that Eisenhower had never voted for president prior to his running.

I also remember reading, years ago, that Senator Jay Rockefeller started as a Democrat because his family had a study done which indicated that he had a significantly better chance at becoming president as a Democrat.

02-12-04, 10:34 PM
coldfuse
Ronald Reagan was a party switcher, from Democrat to Republican in 1962.

02-12-04, 11:33 PM
samantha
Wow didnt know you just switched parties if you have a better chance of winning..thought once you were one way you couldn't switch to another.

02-13-04, 01:16 AM
FredPuli
There is one very famous example of a great politician changing sides here. Winston Churchill was a member of parliament for the Liberal Party, in 1904. Twenty years later he changed sides and became an MP for the Conservative Party, where he remained, becoming Prime Minister twice.

Why? It could be a genuine question of policy and his political beliefs. On the other hand, he might just have noticed that the Liberal Party, in 1924, had little or no chance of ever being in power again Wink.In 1904 they were the other party,like Democrats to Republicans now. The Labour Party, which hardly existed in 1904 had become Britain's second most important party come 1924; it had replaced the Liberals as the great alternative to the Conservatives. The Liberal Party gradually disappeared (it was down to about 10 MPs, out of over 600 in the House, by the 1960s) . Anyone staying a Liberal was destined never to be in government; very frustrating to the ambitious Churchill. So it would seem an easy choice for him to make Smile

Even today we occasionally have an MP change sides, "crossing the floor" as we say, when he or she was elected for one party and decides to join another while still an MP; not merely voting with the other side on one issue, but literally joining their party. It is rare. When it happens we may wonder just quite how genuine this conversion is.The seat they resign from may look likely to be lost by their old party at the next election; they get given another seat to contest for their new party that they cannot possibly lose. This may not be a coincidence Wink

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,