Why didn't we Dems fight harder against Cheney's TX residency in 2000?

[grasswire]

Once it was known that the Constitution would not allow the presidential and vice presidential candidates to be officially domiciled in the same state, Cheney retroactively established residence in Wyoming.

Why did we not fight that harder? It's clear that it was a sham.

Think about the Bush presidency without Cheney. Perhaps things would have gone better for Americans.

[Ilsa]

1. Probably because Wyoming was where

He had grown up and attended college in Wyoming. It was "home" to both of them. If he had been from Texas and was a resident in Texas, it would have been a lost cause for the Bush campaign to pursue him as a running mate, I think.

Yeah, anyone but Cheney would have been better for the country. And the world.

[grasswire]

2. didn't matter if he grew up there

He was not a resident of Wyoming, according to Wyoming law.

In July of 2000, four days before announcing that he would be the running mate for Bush, Cheney flew to Wyoming and registered with the election bureau there.

Not sufficient, according to Wyoming law.

[TransitJohn]

6. It's actually really fishy

The Teton County Clerk illegally allowed him to register to vote after the deadline! (Wyoming has a dead period for voter registration. If you miss the deadline in the summer, you have to wait until Election Day to register.)

[grasswire]

3. so apparently SCOTUS refused to review the matter.

Yes, the same SCOTUS that gave the presidency to Bush-Cheney.

A suit to declare Cheney's election unlawful made its way through the courts. Here's the Cox news story:

January 18, 2001|By COX NEWS SERVICE
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The U.S. Supreme Court, perhaps weary - or wary - from its traumatic role in deciding the presidential election, has refused to hear a challenge to the vice presidential election.

And here's the AP story about the case in the appeals court, prior to its rejection by SCOTUS

Appeals court rejects challenge of Cheney's state residency
Published: Thursday, December 07, 2000ALAN CLENDENNING
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS {AP} Dick Cheney is a Wyoming resident and therefore would be constitutionally qualified to serve as George W. Bush's vice president, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The ruling came from the bench after an hour-long hearing in which lawyers for three Texas residents argued that Cheney had moved to Bush's home state of Texas when he took a job there in 1993.

The 12th Amendment of the Constitution says that if the presidential and vice presidential candidates reside in the same state, then that state's electors cannot vote for each of them.

The three-judge appellate panel took a short recess after the arguments, then Judge Patrick Higginbotham returned to say without elaboration that the panel was in agreement that Cheney clearly is a Wyoming resident.

Higginbotham was appointed by former President Reagan. The others Rhesa H. Barksdale and Jacques L. Wiener Jr. were appointed by former President Bush.

The three plaintiffs were prepared to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if the appeals court sides with a lower court judge, one of their lawyers said before the ruling.

Cheney, a former Wyoming congressman, lived in Dallas while he was chairman of Halliburton Co. until he changed his voting registration to Teton County, Wyo., on July 21 four days before becoming Bush's running mate.

He or his wife have owned a home in Dallas since 1993, but have entered into a contract to sell the property, which was listed for $3.1 million. Cheney, defense secretary under former President Bush, also owns property in McLean, Va.

The plaintiffs are Dallas-area residents Stephen E. Jones, a Texas Wesleyan University law student, and Linda D. Lydia and Caroline Franco, both housewives.

[fascisthunter]

4. most were in shock... never to believe such a thing could happen in the US

[NYC Liberal]

5. Technically they can be from the same state. The restriction is on the electors voting.

Twelfth amendment:

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves

What this means is that the Texas electors couldn't have voted for a president and a vice president both from Texas.

So Bush would have gotten Texas' electors but Cheney would have lost them. The vice presidential vote in Texas would probably have been split amongst other Republicans and no one would have gotten a majority for VP, which would have thrown the vice presidential election into the Senate. Who knows what would have happened then. The Senate was tied 50-50 but Gore had the tie-casting vote. Bush/Lieberman? Well, it's not like they don't fit together.

[karynnj]

7. My guess is that when he was picked Gore thought Cheney would hurt Bush

The only point to raise that issue would have been when he was picked - not right before (or even after) the election.