# Can I run for president? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-run-for-president/611676 "2012-02-03T19:40:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-run-for-president/611676/21 "2012-02-04T04:47:42Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > … George [Romney] … was born in Mexico; his parents were Mormons who set up in a colony down there. They moved back to the US. People raised this at the time, but no one was crazy enough to take it seriously; it was just a trivial nitpick that amused people. “No one was crazy enough” to worry about the natural-born status of George Romney, who was born in Mexico? Yet many Americans are, apparently, crazy enough to worry about the natural-born status of a man who was born in Hawaii? **RealityChuck** , are you insinuating that Americans have become crazier recently? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-run-for-president/611676/22 "2012-02-04T04:48:41Z")
Kidman’s claim to eligibility would be a bit murkier than Obama’s, since her parents had not established a [permanent domicile](http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/169/649/case.html#715) in the US at the time of her birth. She also hasn’t been a US resident for the requisite 14 years, as she appears to have maintained a primary residence in Oz except while married to Tom Cruise. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-run-for-president/611676/23 "2012-02-04T06:59:24Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Kidman’s claim to eligibility would be a bit murkier than Obama’s, since her parents had not established a [permanent domicile](http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/169/649/case.html#715) in the US at the time of her birth. She also hasn’t been a US resident for the requisite 14 years, as she appears to have maintained a primary residence in Oz except while married to Tom Cruise. Kidman can claim citizenship by birth. Her domicile might very well be murky, although her marriage to Cruise helps, as does she lives/works in the US with her Australian husband. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-run-for-president/611676/24 "2012-02-04T13:49:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Actually, Mitt Romney’s father George actually was involved in something like this when he ran for president in 1968. He was born in Mexico; his parents were Mormons who set up in a colony down there. They moved back to the US. People raised this at the time, but no one was crazy enough to take it seriously; it was just a trivial nitpick that amused people. Not sure that’a a fair comparison, as he never got his party’s nomination to run. And given that there was a viable 3rd party candidate that election (George Wallace carried 5 states in the general election), it’s hard to know what would have happened. Ergo, it’s still possible people were as crazy then as they are now. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-run-for-president/611676/25 "2012-02-04T14:08:34Z")
That “natural born” thing is something that should be amended out anyway. The problem is that the only time anybody thinks about it is when there’s a prominent political figure who is prevented from running for president because they are naturalized (Arnold Schwarzenegger, for instance). Or when someone’s birth status is unusual, as in the current case, since the term is rather ill-defined. The trouble with amending it when we are aware of it for these reasons is that it looks like you are modifying the constitution to allow a specific person to run or legitimize them. Giving their political opposition something to fulminate about. Even though there’s a pretty fair chance that the next time it becomes an issue, it might be one of them who isn’t “natural born”. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-run-for-president/611676/26 "2012-02-04T16:35:39Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > “No one was crazy enough” to worry about the natural-born status of George Romney, who was born in Mexico? Yet many Americans are, apparently, crazy enough to worry about the natural-born status of a man who was born in Hawaii? > > **RealityChuck** , are you insinuating that Americans have become crazier recently? No–presidential candidates have just become more diverse in skin color, which tends to bring out a lot of crazy that used to lie dormant. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-run-for-president/611676/27 "2012-02-04T20:38:03Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Or when someone’s birth status is unusual, as in the current case, since the term is rather ill-defined. What is unusual about the birth status of a person born in a state of the United States, to an American mother, with a birth certificate that has been certified accurate by the Hawaiian state officials? ---
**Author:** ![Dufus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@Dufus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dufus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-run-for-president/611676/28 "2012-02-04T21:07:10Z")
Yes you can run for president. And if you make it, they might even toss in a Nobel Peace Prize! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-run-for-president/611676.md?page=1)