Why is the Vice President of United States elected?

[Twotonsteak]

Ask John McCain if a Vice President has to be elected.

I didn't vote in the '08 election. I followed it but the final choices, well, weren't. I couldn't see McCain surviving the stresses of being President and we can ALL admit that no one wanted to see Palin as President. And I refused to vote for Obama.

So I simply didn't vote.

However the point is there, yes, that McCains choice did wonders in the same way the iceberg did wonders for the Titanic.

[Celista]

I didn't vote in the '08 election. I followed it but the final choices, well, weren't. I couldn't see McCain surviving the stresses of being President and we can ALL admit that no one wanted to see Palin as President. And I refused to vote for Obama.

So I simply didn't vote.

However the point is there, yes, that McCains choice did wonders in the same way the iceberg did wonders for the Titanic.

Palin was hugely popular in Alaska before she essentially made herself look like an idiot on the national stage. If she had an IQ larger than that of a turtle than she would have been a great choice, although that accent was atrocious (btw no Alaskan actually sounds like that, besides Sarah Palin).

[Mormolyce]

He's not elected, he is selected by the Presidential candidate. When you vote, you are voting for a President/Vice President combination. However it didn't used to be this way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth...s_Constitution

Basically, it used to be that you could vote for two people. The person with the most votes because President and the person with the next highest number of votes became VP. But they changed that (see 12th amendment) after it caused a major mess in the electoral college in ~1796.

I believe it was originally designed to mimic the Consuls in the Roman Republic. They elected two of them each year and every month they took turns on which one was senior. It was a check on absolute power.

The American system was pretty watered down by comparison, and now the VP is about as important and distinct from the President as the First Lady lol.

[Bretzel]

My second thread asking a question regarding the Vice President.

Why is the Vice President of the United States elected? Why can't the Presidential nominee just select him and then have him approved by the United States Senate JUST like the Cabinet?

I don't really think that Biden needed to be elected to be the Vice President but the suggestion I gave above still would bar the President from being able to fire the Vice President anytime he wants.

I just turned 18 this year but has yet to register to vote. I just need to know why the Vice President is elected instead of just being selected.

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is this thred going to get some replies?

He isn't elected/voted for. The presidential nominee picks his "running-mate" who becomes the VP upon that presidential candidate winning the presidential election.