US citizens don’t elect prez by direct vote. How is US president elected?
The US has an electoral college system established by the founding fathers
as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and by popular
vote. Under this system, citizens do not elect the president and
vice -spresident through a direct nationwide vote.
US citizens vote for electors who then vote for the president ensuring that
the presidential election is decided by the combined results of 51 states’
elections. Under the federal system of the US constitution, the nationwide
popular vote has no legal significance, as it is the total electoral votes
that determine the winner and not the nation-wide popular vote. As a result,
it is possible that a candidate wins a majority of votes nationally but
loses the election. This has happened twice in the 1800s and again in the
2000 presidential election when George Bush received fewer popular votes
than Albert Gore, but won because he had a majority of electoral votes.
How does the electoral college system work?
Each state is allocated a number of electors equal to the total of the
number of its senators and the number of its members in the House of
Representatives. The state’s share in the House of Representatives is
determined by its share in the national population, according to the federal
census. The district of Columbia gets 3 electors as per the 23rd amendment
to the constitution, which granted it the same number of votes as the least
populated state. For the November 2008 elections, the Electoral College
consists of 538 electors— one for each of 435 members of the House of
Representatives and 100 Senators; and 3 for the District of Columbia.
How are electors selected?
The process for selecting electors varies. In most cases, the political
parties nominate electors at their state party conventions or by a vote of
the party’s central committee in each state. In most states, the entire list
of electors for the candidate who receives the most popular votes is
appointed as electors for that state, making it a winner-takes-all system.
This makes big states like California (55 electors), Texas (34), New York
(31), Florida (27), Illinois & Pennsylvania (21 each) and Ohio (20)
particularly important for any candidate since trailing even by a small
margin in the popular vote in any of these means losing out on a huge chunk
of electoral votes. But in states like Maine and Nebraska, two electors are
chosen at large by state-wide popular polls and the rest by the popular vote
in each congressional district.
What happens if no candidate wins a majority of the electoral votes?
If no presidential candidate gets a majority of the electoral votes,
according to the 12th Amendment to the US constitution, the presidential
election has to be decided by the House of Representatives. The House would
select the president by majority vote, choosing from the three candidates
who received the highest number of electoral votes. If no vice-presidential
candidate wins a majority of electoral votes, the Senate will select the
vice-president by majority vote from the two candidates who received the
greatest number of electoral votes. If the House of Representatives fails to
elect a president by Inauguration Day, the vice-president elect serves as
acting president until the deadlock is resolved.
When and how do the electors elect the president?
The electors meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in
December, which this year would mean December 15, 2008. At the meeting, they
vote by ballot for the president and vice-president.
http://cspanjunkie.org/?p=792
This is a very impressive speech by Sarah Palin to all Americans and thus it really show why it is no surprise now that the Democrats theytry to falsely abuse her, bash her now.
1st Wittness 
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