[EM] poll fever

[James Green-Armytage]

"MIKE OSSIPOFF" <nkklrp at hotmail.com> writes:
>No need to pick a method first, because we don't need one winner. Nothing 
>wrong with getting different winners by using different methods. In fact, 
>that's better, because it tests more methods and compares their results.

I agree!!! Voting on a method would be a catch-22: which method do you use
to vote on the method?!  Anyway, that's a problem for another day. This
time it's about presidential candidates, which spells fun.

I think we can all submit ranked ballots with an approval cutoff, collect
them all in one place, and then people can analyze them according to
whatever methods they like. If someone wants to tell me the result using
descending coalitions or bucklin or whatnot, then hey, no skin off my back.

I'd suggest that we give the candidates cardinal ratings from one to a
hundred too, but I guess that may as well be optional, since I don't want
to make this any more complicated than it is already. I'm talking about
*sincere* cardinal ratings, if we can do that; I'd be interested to see
how the CR results match up with the other results.

*************************
So have we decided on at least ONE place where ALL the ballots should be
e-mailed to? Should we trust one person with them? I guess that wouldn't
be a problem, as long as we keep people's names with their vote. Then that
person will post them all up on the list, and if I see the wrong vote next
to my name I can say "hey!" and get it changed. So that works, but who's
it gonna be?
*************************


James

P.S. one cool thing about this is finding out about presidential
candidates who I never knew existed.
P.P.S. I think that Clark dropped out. Or he's just about to. He wouldn't
win our poll anyway. But if people want to rank him, I say go ahead. So I
nominate him, and I nominate Al Gore, and Gephardt, and Lieberman, and
Carol M. B.... the people who dropped out. Hell, I'll nominate Bill
Bradley too, just in case anyone remembers anything about him. And John
McCain (do you know that his environmental record is completely
terrible?), Bob Dole, Paul Tsongas, Michael Dukakis, Walter Mondale...
Jimmy Carter (for one more term), and John Anderson! (Prominant past
losers.) While I'm at it I'll nominate Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. What
about Robert Byrd? He's crazy! Bernie Sanders? Anyone for Ted Kennedy? I
didn't think so. It's really too bad that Paul Wellstone is dead, or I'd
nominate him.