Tied EC, Independent win?

[Gustaf]

Now, let's assume the following, rather unlikely scenario for the 2008 election (the actual year doesn't matter much). An indepenent, who we for fun's sake may call Charles Foster Kane, launches an independent campaign à la Perot. With tons of charisma and lots of cash he draws enormous support from urbanites and suburbanites, especially. He emphasizes a sort of moderate libertarianism in a way that really attracts people. The Democrats have nominated John Edwards, or whoever, who runs a populist campaign. As Kane cuts into Edward's urban base he goes even further on the offense to get rural voters. The Republican campaign, meanwhile, is lackluster, having nominated some sterotypical conservative who is liked by no one. On election day, the result is as follows (grey being Kane's states):



Kane has recieved 37% of the vote and 269 EVs, Edwards 34% and 219, Trent Lott (heh) 28% and 50 EVs. Both House and Senate looks like today, at least roughly (to make this interesting). So what do they do? Do they actually go through with electing Lott despite his poor 3rd place finish?

THe candidates obviously aren't the point, if you can think of more suitable names for achieving this result, go ahead and change it.

[YRABNNRM]

[12th Doctor]

Aren't they only allowed to pick from the top 2 EV vote getters?

[Bacon King]

The House picks out of the top three for president, while the Senate picks out of the top two for VP.

[Gustaf]

Ah, I forgot the senate had that special rule...ok, then you might imagine a scenario when the 2nd finisher's party has the congress majority but is way behind?

And Andrew, nice banner. It's a great movie.

[Bacon King]

Or what if the majority party in Congress did take third place? They would elect their widely unpopular candidate AND have a VP from a different party.

[Gustaf]

Well, the point here was to get a discussion on hoe far could they go?

[minionofmidas]

They could in principle do that. Whether they would might depend on Lott's actions (he might not want them to, feeling that his presidency would be holed under the waterline from the start), on their opinions of Kane (with an independent this successful, no doubt there's congressmen who like him too. Might be enough to forge a working coalition to get him elected after such a pv result) and of course, if they are going to pull it through, on how it's getting spinned.

Of course under the old rules they could choose from the top 5, but Citizen Kane would have been assured of the vice presidency ... that in fact is what the vice presidency was invented for...