For those of you who aren't addicted to politics you might not know that there is a debate going on in some areas on whether or not John McCain (assumed Republican nominee for President) is a natural born citizen of the United States. The Senate stepped into the fray yesterday passing a non-binding resolution "Recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen" (S.Res.511).
This debate has come about due to the phrase "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States" (clause 2 of Section 1 of the Constitution). Since McCain was born on a base in Panama there is some debate on whether he meets this qualification.
Want to read a discussion of this issue? Check out the Washington Post's "McCain's Birth Abroad Stirs Legal Debate: His Eligibility for Presidency Is Questioned."
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