Why d'ya have to go and make things so complicated

If the movie Dave has taught us anything it's that the any old schmuck can run the White House and in most cases can do a mighty fine job. If The West Wing has taught us anything it's that you need to talk really really fast to work in the White House but its better for a president to talk in a slow measured fashion with sporadic passionate outbursts. I love a good political drama especially one that involves the White House. It occurred to me last night amongst Midterm elections that I don't really know too much about the US political system so I asked Nat (she's watched a whole lot of West Wing so I thought she might have more of an insight). No luck. I'm sure J-moff would be able to give me a clear and concise answer that tied in with my current TV based knowledge of US Politics but in his absence I turned to Wikipedia.

Midterm elections are elections in the United States in which members of Congress, state legislatures, and some state governors are elected, but not the President.
On the Tuesday following the first Monday in November of every even-numbered year, elections are held for all 435 members of the United States House of Representatives and 33 or 34 of the 100 members of the United States Senate. However, Presidential elections occur only every four years. Those elections for Congress that do not coincide with Presidential races are called midterm elections, because they occur about midway through a Presidential term.
Thirty four of the 50 U.S. states elect their governors to four-year terms during midterm elections, while Vermont and New Hampshire elect governors to two-year terms in midterm and presidential elections. Thus, 36 governors are elected during midterm elections. States also elect officers to their state legislatures and county offices every two years, occurring with both mid-terms and presidential years.

Right.