The Presidency

Overview Qualifications & Demographics Presidential Roles Organization of the Executive Branch Presidential Power

Qualifications Article II, Section 1: Natural Born Citizen 35 years old 14 year resident of U.S.

Presidential Roles Chief Executive oversee federal bureaucracy administer and execute the law

Presidential Roles Chief of State: largely ceremonial or symbolic functions where President represents the country as a whole

Presidential Roles Commander in Chief Civilian control of Armed forces.

Presidential Roles Chief Diplomat negotiate and sign treaties appoint diplomats receive foreign officials negotiate and sign executive agreements

Presidential Roles Chief Legislator recommend legislation to Congress set legislative agenda veto power

Presidential Roles Chief of Party

Checks on the President Commander in Chief Congress declares war Congress controls budget War Powers Act (1973) 48 hour alert to Congress troops stay for 60 days pending Congressional approval With no approval, troops must be withdrawn

Checks on the President Chief Executive Senate must approve presidential appointments Civil Service protection for most appointees Congress controls the budget

Checks on the President Chief Diplomat Senate confirmation of ambassadors Senate confirmation of treaties Chief Legislator President does not have seat in Congress Congress can override veto

Checks on the President Party Chief term limit and “lame duck” status loose organization of American parties makes it difficult to “lead”

15 Departments

e.g., WHO, CEA, NSC, OMB

e.g., CIA, EPA, NASA, NRC, Peace Corps

Presidential Powers Two types of presidential powers: Formal Informal those determined by the statute and the Constitution Informal those based on tradition, personal traits, political and sociological realities

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

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 EO by disposition (FDR to Obama)

Presidential Powers Formal Powers include: Executive Privilege ability to withhold information from Congress or to refuse to recognize Congressional subpoena

Presidential Power Informal Powers: Access to Media use of mass media allows president to reach public in a way that no other institution or politician in government can

Presidential Power Informal Powers (cont’d) Persuasion Bargain with members of Congress and bureaucracy Success depends on variety of factors, including: personal communication skills partisan divide in Congress public approval ratings

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

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

Powers of the President Source: Wall Street Journal

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

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

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)

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

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

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]

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)

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

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

270 votes needed to be president 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

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)

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.

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

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

Removal and Succession Election Impeachment Resignation Death Illness

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

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