Presidential Transitions – Custom Training

Presidential Transitions   Are you ready for a presidential transition? Whether you work for a federal agency, embassy, or NGO, efforts at planning a 2020 transition, regardless who wins the presidential election, are starting to take shape well before November. Presidential transitions have a unique set of rules and practices, and can create important opportunities. … Read more

Contingent Election of the President and Vice President by Congress: Perspectives and Contemporary Analysis (CRS R40504)

The 12th Amendment to the Constitution requires that presidential and vice presidential candidates gain “a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed” in order to win election. With a total of 538 electors representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 270 electoral votes is the “magic number,” the arithmetic majority necessary to … Read more

Presidential Transitions – Custom Training

Presidential Transitions   Are you ready for a presidential transition? Whether you work for a federal agency, embassy, or NGO, efforts at planning a 2020 transition, regardless who wins the presidential election, are starting to take shape well before November. Presidential transitions have a unique set of rules and practices, and can create important opportunities. … Read more

Presidential Transitions – Custom Training

Presidential Transitions   Are you ready for a presidential transition? Whether you work for a federal agency, embassy, or NGO, efforts at planning a 2020 transition, regardless who wins the presidential election, are starting to take shape well before November. Presidential transitions have a unique set of rules and practices, and can create important opportunities. … Read more

Richard Arenberg’s “Congressional Procedure” from TheCapitol.Net

ALEXANDRIA, VA – (October 8, 2018) – Just in time for the November midterm elections, TheCapitol.Net is pleased to announce the publication of a major new reference work, Congressional Procedure: A Practical Guide to the Legislative Process in the U.S. Congress, by Richard A. Arenberg. If the U.S. Constitution is the rule book, this is … Read more

Campaigns and Elections: Heaven and Hell Edition

  “Hell Bent for Election” (1944)   While walking down the street one day a U.S. Senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance. “Welcome to heaven,” says St. Peter. “Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. … Read more

Recent CRS Reports – Sept. 1, 2013

Government Assistance for AIG: Summary and Cost, CRS Report R42953, August 14, 2013 (25-page PDF) Reauthorizing the Office of National Drug Control Policy: Issues for Consideration, CRS Report R41535, August 13, 2013 (19-page PDF) Bee Health: Background and Issues for Congress, CRS Report R43191, August 27, 2013 (33-page PDF) The Debt Limit: History and Recent … Read more

“The seven stages of the office seeker”

“The seven stages of the office seeker,” by Edward Williams Clay (artist) and John Childs (lithographer). Image and text from the Library of Congress: A satire on patronage and corruption in New York State politics, based on the medieval theme, perpetuated in American folk art, of the “life and ages of man.” Here the seven … Read more

We can see why a “return” to civility is not possible

    Attack Ads, Circa 1800     In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns Presidential Debates: Fifty Years of High-Risk TV All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business     The Election of 1800 Explained     … Read more

The Constitution of the United States: Amendment 12 (Twelfth Amendment – Election of President and Vice-President)

The Constitution of the United States: Amendment 12 (12th Amendment) Amendment XII. (Election of President and Vice-President) Passed by Congress December 9, 1803. Ratified June 15, 1804. Note: A portion of Article II, section 1 of the Constitution was superseded by the 12th amendment. The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by … Read more