At one point in our history, VP choices stood alone. And the VP slot was given to the runner up, no matter his political party.

Since this has never been tested in the courts (a elected President-elect being disqualified) it would be a long drawn out mess and would wind up in the SCOTUS during which time Obama would continue to serve as POTUS unless the court decided to hold George Bush over until such time a new POTUS would be selected.

Yes, this would be a Constitutional crisis as it has never been tested in the SCOTUS before and the wording of the 22nd is vague and generally deals with death of a president-elect, not yet sworn in and not someone who has been legally disqualified for not meeting the requirements set out in the Constitution.

I don’t know if Obama is “natural” born or not. But I have not seen a statement from one state where his “natural” born status has been proven to that state before he was placed on the ballot. As the office of POTUS is the only one that requires “natural” birth, you would think that at least one state would have certified that qualification. To my knowledge, none did.

Also, the controversy that surrounds his birth could have been quickly dismissed by the Obama campaign during the Burg law suit. Instead, the Obama campaign, and the DNC, filed to dismiss the case not on the fact that it was frivilous, but on the fact that Berg had no standing. A simple production of the original certified birth certificate would have put the controversy to rest. Also, to my knowledge, the only entities that claim to have had an “electronic” copy of the birth certificate has been the Obama campaign (on his Stop the Smears site), DailyKos and FactCheck.org. No national publication or media outlet has been provided a copy and the state of Hawaii has refused to allow anyone to access the original simply saying that Hawaii is in possession of the original.

The questions come up because in 1961, a Hawaii resident could obtain a “certificate of live birth” for a child born elsewhere. There are also some odd regulations for “certificates of live birth” due to the fact that Hawaii had just recently been made a state in 1961.

Most “birth certificates” contain parental information, race of parents, date of birth, weight, length (but not always), place of birth (hospital) and attending physician. It is then signed by the hosptial administrator. My own birth certificate (from much earlier) was issued by the hospital in Missouri where I was born and also included both foot prints, as does my spouses birth certificate from the hospital in San Antonio. My children’s original birth certificates (my son was born in 1960) also includes his foot prints, hospital, attending physician and was issued by the hospital and any copies I have ever requested have been electronic copies of the information contained on the front page which included more information than is shown on Obama’s electronic copy.

The Kenyan government stated that all records were sealed until after the election. We will see how that goes now.

But there is a reason that the Obama campaign, and the DNC, has fought to not have to provide an original, certified by the state of Hawaii. And it goes to the heart of the matter, how little we really know about Barack Obama.

Remember, the question of McCain’s “natural” birth was taken up not only in a court, but by the Congress wherefore McCain produced all his documents including original birth certificate and hospital records.

The electoral college would have done its thing already and your new President/VP would be

Nancy Pelosi and Robert Byrd.