Demosthenes is this week’s winner!

You may recall the question was:

Hypothetical question: If President Bush, Vice President Cheney, House Speaker Pelosi, Senate President Pro Tempore Byrd, Secretary of State Rice, Secretary of the Treasury Paulson, Secretary of Defense Gates, Attorney General Mukasey, Secretary of Interior Kempthorne, and Secretary of Agriculture Schafer were all killed, who (today) would be next in line to become President?

The answer is Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt. Only because both Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, whose Cabinet positions are next in line after Secretary of Agriculture Schafer, are ineligible. It is required that one succeeding to the Presidency fulfill the Constitutional prerequisites for the Presidency, which includes age, birth and residence requirements. Both Gutierrez and Chao were born outside the United States (Cuba and Taiwan, respectively).

The order of succession is (as they are able):

• The Vice President Dick Cheney
• Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
• President pro tempore of the Senate1 Robert Byrd
• Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
• Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson
• Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
• Attorney General Michael Mukasey
• Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne
• Secretary of Agriculture Edward T. Schafer
• Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez2
• Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao3
• Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt
• Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson
• Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters
• Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman
• Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
• Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake
• Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff
As new cabinet positions are added, they are added to the bottom of this list.

More information may be found at: InfoPlease.

Another new contest coming your way this Sunday!