The US Constitution requires that Presidents be natural-born citizens. "No Person except a natural born Citizen...shall be eligible to the Office of President" is in Article II, Section I. This part of the Constitution was inserted due to suspicion, perhaps, of Baron von Steuben trying to get Prince Henry of Prussia to become king of the US.
The NY Times is reporting today that John McCain was born in the Panama Canal zone. Is he ineligible to be president? That's an easy one; absolutely not. The constitution is meaningless when compared to public opinion. The constitution is not only what the Supreme Court says it is, it is also what public opinion thinks it is. And public opinion would never disqualify the son of a military family born abroad from becoming president, Constitution or no Constitution.
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The Schedule
- Aug. 11, 2007 Iowa Straw Poll
- Jan. 3, Iowa Caucuses
- Jan. 5, Wyoming (R)
- Jan. 8, New Hampshire
- Jan. 15, Michigan
- Jan. 19, Nevada, South Carolina (R)
- Jan. 26, South Carolina (D)
- Jan. 29, Florida
- Feb. 1, Maine (R)
- Feb. 5, SUPER DUPER TUESDAY, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado (D), Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho (D), Illinois, Kansas (D), Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico (D), New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia (R)
- Feb. 9, Kansas (R), Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska (D)
- Feb. 10, Maine (D)
- Feb. 12, DC (R), Maryland and Virginia
- Feb. 19, Hawaii (D), Washington (R), Wisconsin
- Mar. 4, Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont
- Mar. 8, Wyoming (D)
- Mar. 11, Mississippi
- Mar. 18, Colorado (R)
- Apr. 22, Pennsylvania
- May 6, Indiana, North Carolina
- May 13, Nebraska (R), West Virginia (D)
- May 20, Kentucky, Oregon
- May 27, Idaho (R)
- Jun. 3, Montana, New Mexico (R), South Dakota
- Aug. 25-28, Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO
- Sept. 1-4, Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
- Sep. 26, First debate at the University of Mississippi
- Oct. 2, VP Debate at Washington University in St. Louis
- Oct. 7, Second Debate at Belmont University in Nashville
- Oct. 15, Third Debate at Hofstra University in NY
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