What if Obama Was Assassinated?

First, let me state for the record that I wish harm on no person. In the strongest possible way, I think that murder, as assassination is, is wrong and you are going to hell if you do that. I do not want him assassinated, do not support those who want to assassinate him, and am only making this post today in the name of education, to answer the question of those of you curious about what our Constitution says about this question- what would happen if the President-Elect was assassinated?

From my own reading and research, here is what I am pretty sure would happen, using as a guide past experiences (it happened to VP candidates in the past). Keep in mind that the 12th and 20th Amendments don't quite fit exactly together, so there would be some interpretation, but holding to our founders vision, this is the best answer I came up with.

This question can be answered two ways. The first thing that needs to be established is when the President-elect dies. According to the 12th Amendment, the election results need to be certified and counted in order for the election to be official. Up until the time that the election is official, that is up until the time that the official ballots are counted and certified, the individual electors in the electoral college still have the ability to vote for whom they want to vote for.

In practical terms, this means that until the new Congress is sworn in on January 5, if Obama dies, the electors in the electoral college would decide who our President would be. It would be a political process, likely resulting in Biden being chosen, but not necessarily- Clinton or even McCain could win the needed 270 electoral votes. It could get even more confusing if no one got that 270- let's say the Democrats split for Biden and Clinton- then it would be voted on in the House of Representatives, per the 12th Amendment, and who knows what would happen then.

After the election has been counted and certified, on January 5, then the 20th Amendment would take over, and provides that the Vice President would take office as President. So after January 5, it is Biden.

I'm pretty sure this is what would happen if Obama was assassinated.