# GOP Presidential Candidates: The Elimination Game (Round 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 21, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042 "2015-06-21T00:22:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/1 "2015-06-21T00:22:02Z")
Round 2! I was going to do a properly seeded version this time around and then I decided that sounded like too much work and I’d just pair them off by the margin they won Round 1 by (also, seeding it would likely have given us a Santorum-Fiorina pairing, which no one wanted): Rubio vs Christie Kasich vs Santorum Fiorina vs Pataki Huckabee vs Paul And for fun I’ll add the two nearly-wons as a stall for deciding whether I want to keep them in the competition: Graham vs Perry I predict the first three will be pretty clear-cut, but the last two will be more interesting. [Link to Round 1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=759883) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/2 "2015-06-21T00:25:49Z")
Christie Kasich Pataki Paul Graham ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/3 "2015-06-21T00:30:20Z")
Rubio vs **Christie** -Rubio is the less terrible person but Christie has marginally better policies. **Kasich** vs Santorum-Two (for Republicans) above-average candidates, but still obviously Kasich. Fiorina vs **Pataki** -No contest here. **Huckabee** vs Paul-Economic libertarianism is more harmful to the country than Huckabee’s social conservatism **Graham** vs Perry-Rather more intelligent and competent. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/4 "2015-06-21T00:35:05Z")
Rubio Kasich Pataki Huckabee Perry ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/5 "2015-06-21T04:05:39Z")
Rubio vs Christie- Rubio Kasich vs Santorum- Kasich Fiorina vs Pataki- Pataki Huckabee vs Paul- Paul Graham vs Perry- Graham ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/6 "2015-06-21T11:40:16Z")
Christie Kasich Pataki Paul Graham (uggh) ---
**Author:** ![basset\_hound](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/basset_hound/32/1432_2.png) [@basset\_hound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/basset_hound)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/7 "2015-06-21T12:49:48Z")
Rubio Kasich Pataki Paul Graham ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/8 "2015-06-21T15:28:40Z")
Rubio Kasich Pataki Paul Graham ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/9 "2015-06-21T16:15:36Z")
Christie Kasich Pataki Huckabee Graham ---
**Author:** ![Donald\_Rump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Donald\_Rump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donald_Rump)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/10 "2015-06-21T16:57:23Z")
Christie Kasich Pataki Paul Graham ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/11 "2015-06-21T17:36:09Z")
Rubio Kasich Pataki Paul Graham The Rubio/Christie decision isn’t looking that clear cut. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/12 "2015-06-21T21:16:59Z")
Rubio vs **Christie** Christie may be a crook but he’s not as far right as Rubio. \*\*Kasich \*\*vs Santorum Too many tea leaves sticking to Santorum. Fiorina vs **Pataki** No brainer. At least Pataki isn’t a failed CEO with no political experience. Huckabee vs **Paul** Worst choice of the lot. A theocrat or a halfwit libertarian. \*\*Graham \*\*vs Perry Graham, like most everyone else, has more intellect. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/13 "2015-06-21T21:23:31Z")
Rubio Kasich Pataki Huckabee Graham ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/14 "2015-06-21T22:43:13Z")
Christie - Corrupt as hell, but I think Rubio is too and Christie has more executive experience. Kasich - Duh. Pataki - Duh again. Paul - Best of a bad lot. Won’t get my vote in the next round. There’s a reason these were the also-rans… Perry - Complete fucking idiot, but less likely to get us in a major war within hours of the inauguration. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/15 "2015-06-22T00:41:36Z")
I don’t care about most of these people, but what the hell. Rubio Kasich Fiorina Huckabee Perry ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/16 "2015-06-22T02:29:55Z")
**Rubio** vs Christie - More consistent policy, less likelihood to try and use his position to screw his opponents mob-style **Kasich** vs Santorum - Moderate overall vs. insane social policy. Fiorina vs **Pataki** - successful policition vs. failed non-politician. Huckabee vs **Paul** - I have a mild liberatarian streak. The pubbies could do much worse. **Graham** vs Perry - Not a fan of Graham’s foreign policy but I think he could reach across the aisle. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/17 "2015-06-22T03:17:34Z")
**Rubio** (inexperience vs. corrupt; I go with inexperience) The rest of these are easy: **Kasich** **Pataki** **Paul** **Graham** ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/18 "2015-06-22T09:28:07Z")
I forgot to add an endtime to voting - let’s say **Wednesday 5pm EDT**. Some interesting and unexpected viewpoints thus far. My votes: Rubio Kasich Pataki Paul Perry ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/19 "2015-06-22T13:55:46Z")
Rubio vs Christie: **Rubio** Kasich vs Santorum: **Kasich** Fiorina vs Pataki: **Pataki** Huckabee vs Paul: **Paul** Graham vs Perry: **Graham** ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042/20 "2015-06-22T15:06:31Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Rubio > > Kasich > > Pataki > > Huckabee > > Graham I realize that I didn’t put any reasoning in. My god! How will anyone survive without hearing my lameass reasoning? 😃 Rubio over Christie. I think Rubio is a naif and Christie is a crook. It’s a terrible choice between those two things, but I do think Rubio is smarter and doesn’t just cover his ignorance with bluster and attack the way Christie does. And I think Christie is another Nixon in the way he would attempt to use the power of the presidency. Kasich over Santorum. Easy choice. Kasich is an ass sometimes, but Santorum is santorumy. Pataki over Fiorina: Fiorina is a nothing and a nobody. Pataki has some accomplishments, and his name is more fun to say. (I always hear it in the voice of David Letterman.) Huckabee over Paul: I think libertarianism is a fool’s game that can do irreparable harm. Huckabee is a wannabe theocrat, but hell, Paul has some of that as well. Graham over Perry: Perry just strikes me as another GW—weak, lazy, and rather dim. Not evil, but dim. Graham just seems like he has a clue even though I don’t agree with most of his clues. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-presidential-candidates-the-elimination-game-round-2/723042.md?page=2)