What would happen if McCain were to drop dead of a heart attack before the election?

This is a serious question, because I don't know if this has ever happened before, where a nominee passed away between the convention and the election. Does that candidate's running mate simply take over the #1 spot? Or would the party select a replacement candidate (in this case, probably Romney) who then would be free to choose his own running mate?

will be dumped in a millisecond. There would another convention is the answer to your question though. It is like Egleton way back when. Another convention.

IDK.
:shrug:

Wouldn't Huckabee be next in line? Or does GOP gets to nominate anyone they want?

It could do that whether he dies or not. 30 people could just decide by super majority to throw out the ticket.

Presumably Sarah Palin.

Depending on how close it comes to the election, McCain would still be on the ballot though.

It would be a parliamentary move, not an automatic shift, they would need a board quorum to make the decision.

If they had the quorum they could replace the whole ticket.

And drop her too.

However they want to do that is up to them- appointment, election, caucus, coin toss....

But please, don't scare me like that. Actually the more I think about it.... I think if that happens, we win!!!

Not that I'd ever wish anything bad on anyone....

Most states (probably all) allow for this kind of situation. If a single candidate for partisan office is forced to drop out of the race after the primary, the party is allowed to name a replacement. If ballots have not yet been printed, the new candidate will appear in place of the old one. If ballots have already been printed then the old candidate will appear on the ballot but all votes for that candidate will be counted automatically as a vote for the new candidate.

It it happens BEtween October 1 and November 4, evrything goes on as scheduled. Should McCain/Palin win, Electors will vote for Palin for presidnet and some sort of a compromiose for Veep will be arrived at amongst McCain's electors.

If it happenes between now and the end of the month, he could be replaced or Palin could be moved to the top of the ticket with a new running mate.

Electors from 1/3 of the states would be required to vote for Palin regardless if her name remains as Veep. so after October 1, Sarah Palin would be the president should this unlikely event occur and McCain/Palin wins.

No shotguns....

:beer:

I hear Palin's pretty handy with them...

They already have a dead guy on the ticket.

given the republicans that have run for president for the last 40 years, I think a dead man would be an improvement

It's not like they can tell the difference

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13096.html

a look at the actuarial tables insurance companies use to evaluate customers shows that it’s not an irrelevant one. According to these statistics, there is a roughly 1 in 3 chance that a 72-year-old man will not reach the age of 80, which is how old McCain would be at the end of a second presidential term. And that doesn’t factor in individual medical history, such as McCain’s battles with potentially lethal skin cancer.

“For a man, that’s above the expected lifetime at the present,” said Michael Powers, a professor of risk management and insurance at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.

The odds of a 72-year-old man living four more years, or one full White House term, are better. But for a man who has lived 72 years and 67 days (McCain’s age on Election Day this year), there is between a 14.2 and 15.1 percent chance of dying before Inauguration Day 2013, according to the Social Security Administration’s 2004 actuarial tables and the authoritative 2001 mortality statistics assembled by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Their choice would be much easier than if something happened to Obama. In that case the most sensible thing would be Biden/Clinton but that would piss off a lot of people.

So maybe Biden/John Lewis as a safe symbolic ticket. (McCain has already said Lewis is the second most trustworthy man alive, after all.)

In the event of such a tragedy I would go with Biden/Artur Davis, but I doubt I would be asked.

Even if McCain wins the election, we can hold out the hope that he'll live at least through his first term, and won't fuck up the country too badly. At least we could hope that.

However, I don't even want to think about what a Palin presidency would be like.

But if McCain is elected then dies after election day but before inauguration day, then Palin becomes president.