Who's last in the tally? (was Re: We will deliver no mail before

[Steve Eppley]

Donald D wrote:
-snip-
>A candidate is no longer a contender when he becomes last in the
>vote tally
-snip-

Here's where IRO's fallacy--and Don's circular reasoning--come into
play.  By what (non-hippo, non-IRO) logic is any candidate last in
the tally when there are more than two candidates remaining?

Why not define "last in the tally" as having the worst Condorcet
score instead of fewest first choices?  Or, why not fewest first
plus second choices?  Etc.

Don has stated a rule, a definition of which candidate is last, but
he still hasn't explained why anyone ought to prefer that definition
over alternatives.  Until then, it's reasonable to assume he's using
what he calls hippo logic.  (This is an allegation I've made before
which he hasn't denied.) 

---Steve     (Steve Eppley    seppley at alumni.caltech.edu)