Stacey Campfield (R-TN) and an unnamed Democratic legislator wonder what would happen should election night end in a 269-269 Electoral College tie for John McCain and Barack Obama:

Could you imagine? We were not sure what would happen then. Would it go to congress? Popular vote? or would it be every state gets one vote? It could be very interesting.

Indeed it could be. The United States Constitution, however, tells us what would happen next. In the event of a tie, the House of Representatives chooses the president. Each state delegation gets one vote. If the members of that delegation are deadlocked between the two candidates, then that delegation abstains. Whoever gets the most votes becomes president. Since the Democrats control the majority of state delegations, Obama would most likely become president.

But then there’s the Senate, and this is where things get interesting. The Democrats currently hold a 51-49 edge in the Senate, but one of those Dems happens to be Joe Lieberman, who has endorsed John McCain. So there’s a good chance he’d buck his party and vote for Sarah Palin, thus creating a 50-50 tie. In such a situation, Vice President Cheney would cast the tie-breaking vote, and I think we all know for whom.

So it’s possible that Obama could be president and Palin vice-president, which would make the 2008 presidential election one of the most historic ever and would give us bloggers plenty of fodder for the next four years. It’s unlikely to play out this way though.