If Hillary’s Too Sick To Run, Here’s Who Could Take Her Place (NOT Joe Biden)
Whenever I’ve heard of a major candidate dropping out of the Presidential race, it’s always met with a certain about of scrutiny and criticism, but with Hillary Clinton’s health becoming more of an issue every day, people are starting to explore the options of what happens if Clinton is really found to be unfit to lead.
If that happens, there’s a number of scenarios that might happen, including the worst case – a third term for Barack Obama
When it comes to candidates (rather than office holders) the rules actually come from the political parties, not the Constitution. For Republicans, if a Presidential candidate dies or drops out, the RNC has to either convene a new convention or take an official poll of the RNC’s state representatives to select a replacement candidate. Most likely, the RNC would move the running mate up to the top of the bill, in order to preserve what fundraising has already been done for the ticket.
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But for the Democrats, it’s not so clear. The Democratic National Committee reserves the right to replace a candidate who dies or drops out, and it doesn’t provide additional details in its by-laws. So presumably the Democrats would have to make up the process up as they go along.
With Hillary’s health being the main focus for much of the public, it’s not far fetched to imagine that she could be too sick to run, and wouldn’t actually have to pass away for any of this to happen.
While you’d be forgiven to think the nomination would then be passed on to Bernie Sanders or another primary vote would occur, but it seems the rules get a little weird in this situation.
The DNC could entrust replacing Clinton to a central DNC brain trust or, more likely, replicate the RNC’s system, handing the vote over to the committee’s state delegates.
But according to Red State Watcher:
a temporary Obama 3rd term wouldn’t be out of the question either because, as U.S. News & World Report noted last month, “The presidential election could be delayed or scrapped altogether if conspiracy theories become predictive and a candidate dies or drops out before Nov. 8.”
There’s also a chance that Tim Kaine, Joe Biden, or even Chelsea Clinton could step into the Democratic nomination should Hillary drop out, but those claims are yet unsubstantiated.
Regardless, it’s something we will be monitoring as we get closer to this election, which looks like it’s going to be the biggest s**t show we’ve ever seen.
Can we all just agree to vote in Trump and avoid all this nonsense?
(Sources: Heat Street and Red State Watcher)
