Originally posted by MLT:
Okay, so if I'm understanding this correctly, if a person says they are a member of Congress, they could be saying they are in the House or the Senate - is that correct? So... what is a Congressman? Is he a member of the House - or could he be a member of either?
ML (who's main goal at the moment is to keep Carol from doing what she's supposed to be doing 
) When someone refers to a Congressman (or Congresswoman), that usually refers to a member of the House of Representatives. That is their official title. A member of the Senate will have the title of Senator.
But the term, congressmen, can be used generically to refer to any member of the House or Senate.
More on the electoral college. It seems outdated today, but the reasoning behind it back in the 18'th century was rather sound. Since communications were very poor back then, it was typical that the average person would not even know the candidates for president. But the average person would know prominent members of their community. So in came the electoral college where people voted for electors, who would be well-known people in their communities. People essentially voted for representatives who they would trust to be informed on the presidential candidates and would vote for the person who would better represent their community.
The electors would be directly voted on by the people. They would then convene in December to discuss the candidates for president. These better informed representatives of the people would then vote for president. The winner would become president and the runner-up would become vice president.
Not until much later did electors disappear on ballots to be replaced by the actual names of the presidential candidates. Today, political parties appoint members who would be electors. When a candidate wins a state, the electors appointed by the winning party would then travel to Washington to vote on the president and vice president separately.
