Would never happen, impossible, I know, but, what if
In 2008
Senator John McCain or Arizona is the Republican Presidential nominee and he picks Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina for Vice President to help shore up the Republican base. (This ticket is not so far fetched actually)
Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio is the Democratic Presidential nominee and he picks fellow peace advocate former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska for Vice President. (This ticket reguires a real stretch of the imagination)
New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg runs as an independent and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska agrees to be his running mate.
The election turns out as follows
Republican, McCain/Sanford 269 EV 50.1% PV
Independent, Bloomberg/Hagel 250 EV 38.7% PV
Democratic, Kucinich/Gravel 19 EV 11.2% PV
Question
Given these results, with Republicans McCain and Sanford winning a majority of the popular vote and falling just 1 electoral vote short of an outright win in the Electoral College, and the election turning out to be an unmitigated disaster for the Democrats, does the Democratically controlled House of Representatives dare to elect Kucinich to the Presidency?
What would the Democratically controlled House do in this case about the Presidency?
Further, what would the Democratically controlled Senate do in this case about the Vice Presidency?
McCain wins because more than 25 of the States voted for him. The Senate probably votes for Hagel.
It doesn't matter how many states vote for a candidate, what matters is how many electoral votes a candidate wins.
In the event that the count of electoral votes of the several candidates leaves nobody with a majority, then each State delegation has one vote with which to vote for the President. I predict that States with Democratic majorities of Congressional delegations would vote for the candidate who won their state, and that those with Republican majorities would vote for the Republican. I assume the same delegations as with the current Congress (for example, Michigan and Ohio would have majority-Democratic delegations instead of majority-Republican delegations as before January 2009.
D.C. apparently does not count in that scenario.
Likely vote: McCain 27, Bloomberg 22, Kucinich 1... and Democrats hope for a better result in 2012 after what they see as a one-term Presidency for John McCain.
If D.C. does count, then little changes: McCain 27, Bloomberg 22, Kucinich 2.
I hope that that is a better explanation.
