Good point.
I would like to change my vote from Edison to the Wrights.
so
[del]Edison[/del]
Wrights
Morning standings:
Wrights 6
Anthony 3
Edison 2
King, Washington, FDR, Douglass 1 each
I think I’m going to keep doing a final-morning standings update but stop doing the day-before one, since there’s now an order of magnitude fewer votes to keep track of.
That’s fine, Tom. Many thanks for your help so far.
Looks like the Wrights are out.
Wright, er, right you are, though as an Ohioan I’m pained to admit it. That leaves:
Susan B. Anthony: Suffrage activist
Frederick Douglass: Abolitionist, orator
Thomas Edison: Inventor, workaholic
Benjamin Franklin: Scientist, statesman, inventor
Martin Luther King Jr.: Preacher, orator, humanitarian
Abraham Lincoln: President, emancipator, writer
Franklin D. Roosevelt: President, reformer, statesman
Theodore Roosevelt: President, conservationist, statesman
George Washington: President, general, statesman
Still one vote each, with one person eliminated each round. The current round will end at noon EST on Mon. March 15. Don’t forget Daylight Savings. 
Well, at least the Wrights made it to the top 10.
New vote:
I’m sticking with Washington.
Edison gets more credit in American History than he deserves–for the most part, he’s the guy who ran the lab, not the guy who did the inventing. Nevertheless, he did run one hell of a lab.
I’m still voting for Martin Luther King, who, like Edison, has been given credit for a lot more than he actually accomplished. Granted, that’s not because of outright thievery like Edison was often guilty of, but hey.
Still Edison for me, although Anthony and Douglass are tempting.
I’ll vote Teddy Roosevelt for the moment; may have second thoughts later. I still (despite the results of the previous game) think he’s the least of the four remaining Presidents, and I think including the rest of his life diminishes rather than enhances him; in particular, his inability to find a way to contribute from some place other than center stage after his presidency was over.
Thomas Edison
I still have to nominate Frederick Douglass. There’s a huge amount to admire in the man, but he has considerably fewer concrete accomplishments than anyone else on the list.
Towards the end of the President Elimination Game, I found myself musing that perhaps one reason I favored Lincoln and Washington over the Roosevelts was that the fact Teddy and Franklin served during the twentieth century made them seem more human, and thus, less mythic than Abe and George.
However, as it comes down to the two remaining black leaders, I’m taking the opposite approach. Certainly Martin Luther King stood on the shoulders of giants, and perhaps Frederick Douglass would have accomplished more had he been born later and thus not had to shake off the yoke of slavery. However, my maternal grandfather knew Andrew Young well, and consequently had a nodding acquaintance with MLK. Thus, the fact that I have only two degrees of separation from King tilts the balance in his favor.
Frederick Douglass
Susan B. Anthony.
I’ve gotta go with Susan B Anthony as well.
Teddy Roosevelt.
I was going to vote for FDR but given the momentum that Teddy and Freddy are getting, both of whom I’d like to save, I’ll vote for Thomas Edison instead, the big animal-electrocuting jerk.
While I agree about keeping Douglass around, I’d also like to keep Edison; I’ll remove my vote from [del]Teddy Roosevelt[/del] and vote for Susan B. Anthony instead.
And that makes the current vote count
Edison 3
Anthony 3
Douglass 2
King 1
Roosevelt (T) 1
Washington 1
I’m changing my vote.
New vote:
Susan B. Anthony