1. The Executive Branch 5.3 Electing the President

2. What are the required qualifications for President? Qualifications found in Article II, Section 1, Clause 5, of the Constitution Be “a natural born citizen.”natural – must be born a citizen of the United States to be able to become Presidentborn Is Ted Cruz eligible to be president?Ted Cruz Be at least 35 years of age – JFK at age 43 was the youngest person to be elected President – TR was 42 (McKinley assassination) Be a resident of US for at least 14 years Other important factors Thomas Jefferson -proficient in philosophy, mathematics, history, French, Latin and Greek. -Author of Declaration of Independence Architect of Monticello Founder of University of Virginia Ronald Reagan -Worked as a lifeguard while he attended Eureka College -worked as Chicago cubs radio announcer -B-movie actor during 40s and 50s -spokesman for GE -2 term governor of California

3. How is the president elected? Campaign – When a Candidate “runs” for office – Explains his plan for how he/she will run the nation & why he is the best choice Nomination – Most viable candidate is backed by political party Electoral College – Voters go to a polling place and select their choice really vote for a member of the Electoral College – Each state has a certain number of electors Based on the number of representatives + 2 senators Candidate who gets 270 wins the election Begin at 5:13-8:40

4. What are “red state”, “blue states”, and “swing states”? Term for Red States – Likely to vote Republican Blue States – Likely to vote Democratic Swing States – Could go either way – Also known as battleground states Coined by journalist Tim Russert, during his televised coverage of the 2000 presidential election Based on the map above, which states will candidates likely campaign in the most?

5. What happened in the 2000 Election? Al Gore v George W. Bush Al Gore received more Popular Votes than George W. Bush – About ½ million more people voted for Gore than Bush But Bush received more electoral votes – Won most important states Bush won the election

6. Why was the 2000 election so controversial? Florida – Worth 25 electoral votes – Major voting problems Some votes were not counted – Hanging chads » If voters failed to make “clean” punches, computers unable to read card and vote does not count » Florida attempted to recount the ballots by hand but were halted by Supreme Court Confusing ballots – Voters uncertain who they were voting for Bush v Gore – Supreme Court ordered Florida to stop counting ballots – Said it could not be done fairly – Bush won election Begin at 17:00

7. Ticket Out Newspaper Headline Pretend that you are a reporter during the 2000 election. Write a Headline, a paragraph that summarizes what happened and a paragraph of your opinion of this election