Presidential Selection Process

From Federalist 39:

The executive power will be derived from a very compound source. The immediate election of the President is to be made by the States in their political characters. The votes allotted to them are in a compound ratio, which considers them partly as distinct and coequal societies, partly as unequal members of the same society. The eventual election, again, is to be made by that branch of the legislature which consists of the national representatives; but in this particular act they are to be thrown into the form of individual delegations, from so many distinct and coequal bodies politic. From this aspect of the government it appears to be of a mixed character, presenting at least as many federal as national features.

More in Federalist 68 

• National Archives site on the electoral college
• History of the process
• An example: Rhode Island 2012
• Bush v. Gore. "The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States unless and until the state legislature chooses a statewide election as the means to implement its power to appoint members of the electoral college."
• Faithless electors
• Seeking flippers
• National popular vote?

Convention moments:

• "Extremism in the defense of liberty" 1964
• Riots 1968
• Kennedy upstages Carter 1980
• Pat Buchanan 1992