[O]nce in office, [George W. Bush and Dick Cheney] immediately began seeking out ways to concentrate more unchecked power in the White House - not just for themselves, but also for their successors.
Bush has bypassed laws and treaties that he said infringed on his wartime powers, expanded his right to keep information secret from Congress and the courts, centralized greater control over the government in the White House, imprisoned US citizens without charges, and used signing statements to challenge more laws than all predecessors combined.
Legal specialists say decisions by the next president - either to keep using the expanded powers Bush and Cheney developed, or to abandon their legal and political precedents - will help determine whether a stronger presidency becomes permanent.
Of the Republicans who answered, Mitt Romney seemed the most likely to continue in the direction Bush/Cheney has laid out. Interestingly, only 3 Democrats - and 2 Republicans - advocated ending signing statements altogether.
