Thanks, that makes sense once I get my head around it but.... there must be a way to force the DNC and the Candidate to follow the law. In the absense of someone in some government institution stepping up, how exactly do you file suit to halt this sham election or at least forst the other party to prove eligibility? Surely there's a way to move it forward???
Lloyd, I can think of a couple ways. The first would be a proper plaintiff, who would be someone like Hillary, or, perhaps McCain (though for obvious political reasons, McCain would stay out of this fight). A loser to Obama in the primary would probably have standing, too. Hillary is the strongest plaintiff in my mind.
A second way is through the political process. Congress is textually charged with counting the votes for President, so presumably, although the constitution is not clear on this point, Congress has the authority to determine whether a candidate is qualified and could thus receive votes. Again, probably won't happen here because of the majority democrat congress, but it's a vehicle to resolution.
You might be thinking that neither choice is going to provide a satisfactory resolution, and that's true. But some provisions of the constitution, as a practical matter, just aren't enforceable. For instance, Congress doesn't publish the budget expenditures of the CIA, despite that the Constitution textually requires all government expenditures to be published--there's been litigation over this that has been dismissed for lack of standing. No one has the right vehicle to bring a challenge, and that's just the way it is.
If you're interested more in this subject, take a look at Ex Parte Levitt, which involved a citizen challenging a Supreme Court appointment, and United States v. Richardson, which was a challenge to the CIA budget secrecy.