# "I'm Dick Cheney and I approved this ad"

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-dick-cheney-and-i-approved-this-ad/239066
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 9, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-dick-cheney-and-i-approved-this-ad/239066 "2004-04-09T00:13:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-dick-cheney-and-i-approved-this-ad/239066/1 "2004-04-09T00:13:36Z")

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How come we don’t see this? Aren’t the president and the vice-president technically elected separately (per the 12th Amendment)? Therefore, shouldn’t the VP candidate have to approve the message too?

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### Author: ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-dick-cheney-and-i-approved-this-ad/239066/2 "2004-04-09T00:39:44Z")

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OTOH, the actual ballot, for as long as I can remember (and I first voted in 1972), lists the president and the vice-president on one line as a pair. Although an elector could conceivable split a vote there is no way an ordinary voter on Nov. 2 could do so. A vote for George Bush drags along Dick Chaney whether you like it or not. And the campaign laws are clearly targeted at the ordinary voter and not at electors, who are often constrained and guided by separate state laws.

I can’t see this as a violation, even in a technical sense.