(2008-10-29) Obama And Mccain Citizenship

It seems funny that both John [[Mc Cain]] and Barack Obama have had their status as natural-born citizens challenged.

Mc Cain was born in the Panama Canal zone.

• Gabriel Chin says that Mc Cain was born before the rule making Canal Zone-born children citizens.

• SnopesCom says the definition of natural-born-citizen has never been clearly defined

• Mc Cain himself says it's a non-issue because the Supreme Court let Barry Goldwater run for president despite having been born in Arizona before it was a state.

Philip Berg [claims](http://www.americanpatrol.com/MISCNEWS/2006-UP/ELECTIONS/2008/OBAMA/Oct Surprise Video 081012.html) that Obama was born in Kenya, not the US. And that even if he was born in the US, he lost his citizenship when he was adopted in Indonesia.

A District Judge ruled that Berg has no standing to file a suit. Which is a big problem that came up in Mc Cain's case too: there's a rule about eligibility, but apparently no way for anyone to challenge a candidate's eligibility. Weird.

Dec04'2008 update: jeez, the Supreme Court is actually considering this!