Noah Counte

Naturally, Palin played that comment off as a joke during the debate, and said that she would continue with current Vice President Dick Cheney's tactic of working in both the executive and legislative branches. "I'm thankful the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president if that vice president so chose to exert it in working with the Senate," she said during the debate. She went on to indicate that she'd use her position to frame energy policy, policy towards families and education with regards to people with disabilities, and some other items.

Biden had the response on this question, and stated that Cheney had overstepped the bounds of his role, calling him the "most dangerous vice president in U.S. history." Biden insisted the vice president's only authority in the legislative branch is to vote in the Senate in the event of a tie. Biden went on to suggest that his role would be advisory, and that he would sit in on meetings and offer counsel.

Leaving aside the fact that Palin's mantra during the debate was that Biden and Obama spend a lot of time looking back, for candidates who aspouse to be about change, and that the McCain camp has coopted change as their issue, and that carrying on like Cheney did is both looking backward, and not change, the stark differences between the two makes me wonder. What the heck does a Vice President do? Franklin Roosevelt's Vice President, John Nance Gardner said the Vice Presidency wasn't "worth a bucket of warm spit." Allegely, "spit" was a an editorial euphemism for the rhyming word Nance actually used. I had to figure out what gets dumped in the bucket.

Article I of the United States Constitution provides details about the powers of Congress. Article I Section 3 states that "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided."

Executive, or Presidential power is defined in Article II of the Constitution. It doesn't say much about the choosing of a Vice President, and the current electoral process has evolved over time. Section 1 states that "In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected."

In 1841, President Wm. Henry Harrison died in office, and Vice President John Tyler assumed the Presidency. He asserted that he was, in fact, Predient (not simply the acting president), and refused to acknowldge documents referring to him as "acting President." He took the oath of office, an act that was not challenged in court. The precedent was set, but the grounds for such action were iffy. The 25th Amendment explicitly states that President Tyler's actions were appropriate, and would be the accepted path for the future. Fourteen Vice Presidents have gone on to become President through the death, incapacity, impeachment or resignation of the President.

The question of how vacancies in the Vice are to be filled is answered in Section 2 of the 25th Amendment, which says that "Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress." This is authority President Nixon used to replace Vice President Agnew with Vice President Ford, who then named Nelson Rockefeller Vice President when he succeeded Nixon as President. THat's the only time in history that we've had a President and a Vice President that were not elected by the people.

Vice President's are paid the same amount as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, which is currently $221,000.

What, then, does the Vice President do? Presides over the Senate, voting in the event of a tie, and takes over for the President, if necessary. That's it, in terms of a formal role. Lately, Vice Presidents like Al Gore and Dick Cheney have been more active than have their historical counterparts. Nothing says they can't, but nothing says they can, either. We've seen 16 years of increasingly active Vice Presidents, so look for future Vice Presidents to continue the trend.