As Skipper continued to talk with Julien, Marlene, after finishing her piece of cake, noticed that Kowalski wasn't busy with anything, so she walked up to him and tapped him on the back.
"Excuse me, Kowalski," she said, "you know a lot about different things, so I was wondering if I could ask you a question or two."
"It would be my pleasure," Kowalski said. "For what good is having knowledge if you are not able to share it with others?"
"Well, you know how I accidentally said 'President' when I was taking the oath earlier?" Marlene asked.
"It is kind of hard to forget," Kowalski quipped.
"Well, I'm not really sure if I want to be President or not," Marlene continued, "but I was just wondering about the legalities of an otter becoming President."
"Well, I have a feeling that the Supreme Court would have some issues with the idea," Kowalski began, "but as for the actual text of the United States Constitution, it is silent on the matter; it neither supports nor expressly prohibits the concept of an otter being elected to the Oval Office."
"What are the requirements, then?" Marlene asked.
"Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution imposes three eligibility requirements to serve as President," Kowalski replied. "First, you must be a natural-born citizen, that is, you need to have been born in the United States."
"I was born in California," Marlene responded.
"Monterey, California. March 26, 1992," Kowalski said. "Correct?"
"Kowalski, you both amaze me and freak me out a little," Marlene said with a smile. "That's correct, but how did you know?"
"I knew your middle name earlier; I tend to know a thing or two," Kowalski replied. "Now, the third requirement to be President is that you be a resident of the United States for 14 years, and since I heard you tell Julien earlier that you've never left the country, you've met that requirement, too."
"So, could I run in 2012 if I wanted to?" Marlene asked.
"No, because I went out of order and did not yet tell you the second requirement," Kowalski said. "You need to be 35 years old to be President."
"But otters might only live to be 25 or so," Marlene said sadly.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that, Marlene," Kowalski reassured her. "Are you forgetting that you're a talking otter? You can throw all that lifespan stuff out the window when you're an animal who can talk. Trust me, I know."
"So, I couldn't run until–" Marlene began to say as Kowalski jumped in with an answer.
"The election of 2028," he informed her.
"Nineteen years," Marlene said. "What to do?"
"Well, usually people who become President have held other political offices before getting to the White House," Kowalski said. "Many have been governors, senators, vice presidents, and other things. Six, including Thomas Jefferson, have even been Secretaries of State."
Marlene then looked across the room and noticed that Skipper was no longer talking with Julien.
"Hey, Skipper!" she called over to him. "Is that Secretary of State position still open?"
Well, you've made it, my friend. Thank you for reading "Election Day." I hope you liked it and will post your review.
I personally had a lot of fun writing this, and it took some work nearly every day in the month of August 2009 to complete. As a fan of both writing and politics, I had fun blending some political jokes, phrases, and references into my story – I hope it was never too much.
Some brief fun facts: While I totally invented the rules of the "Constitution of United Penguins," Kowalski's citations of the two federal laws (the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and the Communications Act of 1934) and the U.S. Constitutional requirements to serve as U.S. President (except, probably, the otter becoming President part) are real; the oaths of office are modified versions of the actual Presidential oath (which is in the U.S. Constitution) and the oath required for federally elected officials (per federal law); the motions in Chapter 5 reflect parliamentary procedure.