y’know, I think I’m going to introduce my own little nightmare. Not a page, as I don’t want to drag too many souls into the same vision. But for the few on this list, a bit of night sweats.

The word is assassination. Keep it in mind while I progress.

Obama is going to win Tuesday’s election. Of that I have no doubt. The problem is, you see, that he doesn’t win on Tuesday. On Tuesday we elect a slate of electors to the college.

On the Monday after the second Wednesday of December, they cast their respective votes. The votes are cast in duplicate, with on set kept in the state and the other sent to Congress. The votes for the president go to an office in the House, and those for the vice president go to the Senate.

Now if Obama were to be assassinated any day prior to Monday, December 17, the electors would be free to select anyone else in the US, subject only to restrictions imposed by their respective states. It would still be chaos, but it’s reasonable to expect that they’d go with Biden. Still, it’s possible that the full 270+ would not do so, and we’d see Obama and Biden and Romney and maybe a Hillary. Hold that thought a moment.

If the assassination occurs after the votes are cast but before the votes are counted on the day of the first meeting of the new Congress (January 3) then the votes are left alone. In that case they’ll be almost entirely Obama and Romney.

Enter the fun. Constitutionally, if a person on the electoral votes cannot be counted, his votes are not considered. If nobody has the required 270+ votes, then it goes to the house.

The house votes - by state - between the (up to) three highest remaining electoral vote recipients. That’s Romney, with the slightest possibility of a protest vote from an elector giving an alternative choice.

Getting chills yet?

Now a bit more detail. The vote of a state is made by a 2/3 majority of the state’s representatives. Not the senators, just the house. Which means there are a few “red” states which aren’t automatically going to vote for Romney. If that happens there is no president, the Vice President fills the role as “acting” (as though the president were temporarily incapacitated) until March 4. On that day the Vice President becomes President.

I remember the artificially induced panic and screaming of 2000. There was a system in place. There was a process in progress. And it all got short-circuited by the Supreme Court (something for which I will never forgive any of them, because they CIRCUMVENTED THE CONSTITUTION. But I digress.)

The thing is, remembering that I can just imagine what things would be like with Romney receiving only 23 or so states in the House, and Biden running things.

Sleep well.