Article II.1 of the Constitution sets forth the qualifications for presidential candidates. The two major limitations are the minimum age requirement and the "natural-born" citizenship requirement. While these minimum requirements appear to allow anyone who meets them to become president, for various reasons only a few tend to have a realistic chance of being elected.

The office of the president has evolved into numerous formal and informal roles. One of these is the chief of state. In this position, the president performs the role of the ceremonial head of state. Actions associated with the head of state include throwing out the first pitch of the baseball season, decorating war heroes and dedicating parks, among numerous others.

The president also functions as the chief executive. In this position, the president is the leader of the government in the executive branch. Many of the formal powers of the president, especially the power to issue executive orders, invoke emergency powers, and the power to appoint high-ranking officers in the executive and the bureaucracy are understood in terms of the president’s role as chief executive.

The president is also the Commander in Chief of the armed forces—the head of the military. This power has become a position which has more power and responsibility than most people can comprehend. As the military power of the United States increases, so too does the power of the president. This power has greatly influenced the role that every modern president has had to assume in world affairs.

As Chief diplomat the president has the responsibility for setting of foreign policy. The president determines which countries will recognize. He will also propose treaties, although 2/3 of the Senate must approve of such action before the treaty is effective. The president can also make international agreements and they do not require the approval of the Senate.

Some of the powers of the president as Chief legislator are prescribed in the Constitution. In this role the president is the initiator of a legislative agenda for congressional action. The president gives a State of the Union message to Congress each year, in which the president generally outlines his agenda. If Congress decides to ignore this agenda, the president may attempt to stop legislation by use of the veto power, although it is possible for Congress to override a veto with a 2/3 majority in both houses. In 1996 Congress enacted legislation which allows the president to use a line-item veto on bills of revenue (such bills, of course, must originate in the House of Representatives) Measuring how successful a president’s legislative agenda is often difficult, especially if the president places minimal importance on particular issues.

Other presidential powers include powers which Congress has bestowed on the president by statute (statutory powers) and those that are considered inherent powers. Statutory powers include Congressional legislation like the War Powers Act, which confines presidential use of force. Inherent powers are those powers the head of government needs to fulfill his duties. An example of these inherent powers are emergency powers used in times of war.

The structural organization of the executive branch was not outlined in detail by the framers of the Constitution. All the Constitution expressly provides for is a president and a vice-president. The remaining structure was left to the discretion of the president and Congress. This lack of constitutional structure has allowed the executive branch to be as flexible as the president and Congress have desired.

By far the largest growth within the executive branch has occurred in the twentieth century. Prior to Franklin Roosevelt’s administration, the size of the executive branch was less than half the current size. But Roosevelt’s administration was overburdened in its attempt to administer its New Deal programs, and thus the size of the federal bureaucracy grew to accommodate its new responsibilities. However, not all of the federal bureaucracy is understood in terms of executive agencies. In fact until October of this year only fourteen executive agencies, the Cabinet departments, were expressly a part of the executive branch.

Most Texans assume that the governor is the most important elected official in the state, bu thte facts contradict this. The Texas Constitution of 1876 created an office that was stripped of most of its Reconstruction-era powers. It created a plural executive wherein executive power was divided among many elected and appointed officials. This arrangement makes it difficult for the governor to be a true chief executive.

The governor's powers are limited, and the office is usually ranked at or near the bottom when compared to other governors. Yet he does have some formal powers, including the power to appoint board and commission members. Must such appointments go to those who have made major contributions to the governor's election campaign. Still, the appointment power is constrained by senatorial courtesy, an informal practice which allows the state senator in whose district a prospective appointee lies to disapprove the appointment, and by the need to gain a two-thirds confirmation in the Senate. Another limiting factor is that most appointments are for six-year terms. This ensures that newly elected governors must deal with the previous administration's appointees. Removal is difficult and can be achieved only if the governor made the appointment and only with two-thirds approval in the Senate.

Major executive departments are headed by officials who are elected in their own right, and the governor has no formal control over them. This allows for officials from different parties to sere at the same time, further limiting gubernatorial power. The other executive powers of the governor are minor. He can declare martial law and call out the Texas Guard in an emergency, and he can deploy the Texas Rangers in certain situations.

Legislative powers of the governor are more significant. He has exclusive power to call the Texas legislature into special session, and to determine the agenda for the special session. While the session is limited to 30 days, the governor can call an unlimited number of them. Perhaps the most important legislative power, however, is the veto. At the governor's disposal is the standard veto over legislation, which requires a 2/3 majority in both houses of the legislature to override. Since most legislation passes in the last days of the short legislative session and since the governor has 10 days to act on a bill, he is often able to exercise the veto after the legislature has adjourned. This post-adjournment veto cannot be overridden, and in effect allows even the threat of a veto to suffice to kill a bill. In budgetary matters, the governor may exercise the line-item veto on appropriations bills, allowing him to shape the final version of the state's biennial budget.

Perhaps the most controversial limitation imposed on the Texas governor involves the restrictions on executive clemency. After the pardoning scandal with "Ma" and "Pa" Ferguson in 1934, the Board of Pardons and Paroles was established, and the governor was stripped of all independent pardon and parole powers. In fact, the only independent clemency power the governor retains is a single 30-day reprieve in death penalty cases.

Both the US and Texas constitutions provide for an executive branch of government composed of several key offices that are responsible for carrying out specific duties.

The US model makes use of the cabinet form of executive government, whereby the president appoints key personnel who are subordinate to him. The president conducts periodic cabinet meetings and outlines his strategy for governing. Each cabinet member is responsible for carrying out various aspects of the administration's policies.

In Texas, the plural executive model is used. The framers of the Texas Constitution purposely weakened the governor's office by creating a division of power within the executive branch. With the exception of the Texas Secretary of State and the Adjutant General, each of the offices that comprise the plural executive exercise autonomous powers, and none are subordinate to the governor. These officers are chosen directly by popular election for four-year terms, strong evidence of the framers' basic distrust of government and their reluctance to put too much power in the hands of a single person.

The offices that comprise the plural executive include the lieutenant governor, who, like the vice president of the United States, is next in line for the top job should something unforeseen happen between elections. Like the vice president the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate. Unlike the vice president, however, the lieutenant governor takes an active role in the affairs of the Senate, appointing all committee members and determining legislative jurisdiction. One can argue convincingly that the lieutenant governor in Texas is just a powerful, and perhaps more powerful, than that of the governor.

The Attorney General's office is the chief litigator for the state of Texas. Unlike other attorneys general in the US, the Texas AG does not exercise the power to prosecute criminal cases. Rather, the attorney general's office is involved in various civil matters, including consumer protection, child support enforcement, and other legal services to the state.

The Comptroller of Public Accounts is also a powerful officeholder whose responsibilities include collecting taxes and certifying available revenues. The responsibilities of the comptroller's office have grown in recent years, primarily due to a constitutional amendment in 1995 abolishing the state treasurer's office. These duties have been assumed by the Comptroller, which has made this office all the more visible.

The plural executive also includes the commissioner of the General Land Office, who is essentially the state's landlord. The Land Commissioner's primary duties include the management and leasing of publicly owned land in the state of Texas. Much of the state's public land is dedicated to the Permanent School Fund, which received income from leases as well as from oil and mineral production. This Land Commissioner's office is also responsible for the Veterans Land Board, which provides low-interest loans to Texas veterans.

Most of the offices in the plural executive in Texas are established by the Texas Constitution. However, in 1907 the Agriculture Commissioner was established by a statutory provision. The duties of this office include the regulation of pesticides, the certification of weights and measures, and the promotion of Texas agricultural and horticultural products. In order to be eligible for the office of agriculture commissioner, one must be a practicing farmer.

The only significant executive agency whose head is appointed by the governor is the office of the Secretary of State. While this office carries the same name as the diplomatic are of the United States executive, the Texas Secretary of State serves as the chief elections officer. The Secretary of State also issues charters for businesses incorporated in the state, and publishes the Texas Register, which reports administration agency rules attorney general opinions, and other government information.

The adjutant general is also appointed by the governor, but unlike other appointees whose terms run for six years, the adjutant general's term only lasts two years. With the exception of the governor, the adjutant general is the state's highest-ranking military officer, and is responsible, with two assistants, for overseeing the Army National Guard, the Air National Guard, and the Texas State Guard.

In addition to the principal officers of the plural executive, Texas voters even elect members of at least two boards and commissions in the state bureaucracy. The Texas Railroad Commission was originally established to regulate intrastate rail rates, but because of the tendency of bureaus to expand their reach, the TRC gained control over pipelines, oil and gas production, and trucking. The three members of the TRC are elected to overlapping six-years terms. The other elected agency, the State Board of Education, has limited oversight of the Texas Education Agency, and its fifteen members are elected by district rather than by the state as a whole. As boards that are elected rather than appointed the Railroad Commission and the SBE are exceptions. Still, the election of these boards indicates that Texans wish to reinforce accountability in the key components of government.