On US politics, sort of

Boston Globe is wondering what would happen if terrorists assasinate a whole US presidential ticket (the president and the vice president candidates) just before the November election, or the winning ticket just after. Hmm, for the first case we have a sort of a precedent in Missouri in 2000: Governor Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash right before the election and was still elected against the incumbent Senator John Ashcroft, and I can well understand the people of Missouri. Having lost to the dead man Ashcroft left the Senate and moved on to become the head of the Department of Justice. OTOH, our presidential race is close enough this time that people would probably vote for the survivor. As for the latter case, we do have an order of presidential succession - but does it apply to a president-elect who has not taken office yet? If it does, or if he is Bush, the terrorists would have to off the whole cabinet as well as the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate in order to produce a proper political turmoil.