4. Pay and benefits
• Salary today--$400,000
• $50,000 for expenses
• Fringe benefits:
– White House
– Camp David
– Cars (armored)
– Air Force 1 (plane)
6. Chief of State
• Ceremonial head of the United States
Government
• Symbol of all the people of a nation
– Dedication of monuments, statues, etc.
7. Chief Executive
• President has vested by the Constitution with
“the executive power” of the United States
• Very broad to include both domestic and
foreign affairs and is often described as “the
most powerful office in the world”.
• But the President still has to work with the
system of Checks and Balances
8. Chief Administrator
• Head of the business part of government
– Employs almost 2.7 million people and spends
almost 2.5 trillion dollars a year
9. Chief Diplomat
• Main instrument of foreign policy in the
United States
• Nations spokesperson to the rest of the world
10. Commander and Chief
• Head of the entire military force for the US
• In charge of 1.4 million men and women in
uniform
• Entire military arsenal is at his immediate
control
11. Chief Legislator
• Main person who sets overall agenda for
Congress
• Initiates, suggests, requests, insists and
demands that Congress enact much of its
major legislation
• He does clash with Congress and does not
always get his way
12. Chief of Party
• Head of his own political party
• Virtually unchallenged in this role
• Much of his “power” depends on the manner
of which he controls this role
13. Chief Citizen
• Expected to represent all the people of the
United States—place of moral leadership
• **must play all these roles simultaneously!!
15. Succession
• If president dies, resigns or is removed the
Vice President becomes President
• After the VP it is the:
– Speaker of the House
– President pro tem of the Senate
– Secretary of State
– Other 13 cabinet members
16. Vice President
• Constitutional Duties
– Preside over the Senate
– Help decide questions of presidential disability
• Must be ready to assume presidency at any
moment
• If office of VP is vacated, President must
nominate a new VP (vote of both houses of
congress)
18. Original Idea by Framers
• Each state would have
– Electors equal to number of Senators and House
members combined
• Electors would be chosen by state legislature
• Electors would cast 2 votes
– One for President, one for Vice
• Most votes=President, 2nd most=Vice
• No person receives majority, House would
elect President and Senate the Vice
19. Election of 1800
• Jefferson and Burr each get equal amount of
votes
• House chooses Jefferson as President and Burr
as Vice
• Congress then passes the 12th Amendment
saying electors would cast 2 ballots
– 1 for President, 1 for Vice
21. Primary Elections
• Each party holds primary elections to help
determine candidate in each party
• Not all states participate in primary elections
– Some hold party caucuses or meetings
• New Hampshire is always the first state to
hold its primary elections
22. National Convention
• 3 goals for the National Convention
– Adopt a party platform
– Formally nominate president/vice
– Unify party behind candidates
• Each state gets a vote on who to nominate
• Once nomination is made officially,
Presidential candidate chooses a running mate
23. Actual Election
• Determined by electoral college
• When we place a vote for the president, we DO
NOT vote for the president directly
• Two sets of electors, Democrats and Republicans
have already been chosen as electors depending
on how the state votes
• Most states have winner take all (except ME & NE)
• To win presidency, candidate must have majority of
electoral college (270 electoral votes)
• **President formally elected on January 6th
24.
25. Problems with EC
• Winner of popular vote may not win electoral
college
– 1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000
• 51% of the vote for a state gets the entire vote
