# The Democratic Field - March Madness Style **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 15, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599 "2019-02-15T16:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/1 "2019-02-15T16:12:02Z")
With approximately 16 announced, rumored or possible candidates in the running, I thought it would be fun to pair off the candidates in a Sweet 16, seeded into 4 brackets of 4, single elimination tournament, and open each round up to your voting. Winners advance. (for you non-sports fans, “March Madness” is the name given to the annual NCAA basketball tournament of 64 teams. After the first two rounds, the remaining teams are called the “sweet 16”.) I chose the candidates and did the seeding based (arbitrarily) on [this article on 538.com.](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-2020-democrats-already-have-a-fan-base-and-which-dont/) To pare the field down to 16 I threw out two guys I never heard of. I’d tell you their names, but I’ve already forgotten. It doesn’t seem possible to have multiple polls in a single thread, so for this round I will create 8 polls. Each will have 2 candidates, and each will be titled something like “Democratic March Madness - (region) Semifinal”. In this round, the match-ups will be #1 vs #4, and #2 vs #3. Let the madness begin. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/2 "2019-02-15T16:48:59Z")
The Biden/Sanders matchup is inappropriate for a first round. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/3 "2019-02-15T17:02:53Z")
Everyone stop bitching about the seeding. No one’s forcing you to vote. Let it be a fun distraction during the doldrums. We could do one every quarter or so leading up to the real votes early next year (when I’ll run my official contest) during these doldrums where it’s really just the chattering class making waves. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/4 "2019-02-15T17:07:50Z")
nvm. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/5 "2019-02-15T17:48:51Z")
One non-seeding quibble I have with how these are set up: It’s impossible to tell, either from the thread title or the mouseover, which one is about which candidates. It’d be better to put the names in the title, or at least in the body of the post. Polls don’t show up in mouseover. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/6 "2019-02-15T17:56:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > One non-seeding quibble I have with how these are set up: It’s impossible to tell, either from the thread title or the mouseover, which one is about which candidates. It’d be better to put the names in the title, or at least in the body of the post. Polls don’t show up in mouseover. That’s an excellent point. I’ll see what I can do; and at least, handle it in the next round. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/7 "2019-02-15T17:58:03Z")
Also: it should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: I’m trusting you to only vote once. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/8 "2019-02-15T18:13:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > One non-seeding quibble I have with how these are set up: It’s impossible to tell, either from the thread title or the mouseover, which one is about which candidates. It’d be better to put the names in the title, or at least in the body of the post. Polls don’t show up in mouseover. Got it covered. Don’t say we’re not customer service oriented. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/9 "2019-02-15T18:21:30Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Everyone stop bitching about the seeding. No one’s forcing you to vote. > > Let it be a fun distraction during the doldrums. We could do one every quarter or so leading up to the real votes early next year (when I’ll run my official contest) during these doldrums where it’s really just the chattering class making waves. I’m not seeing any bitching. I’m not seeing any seeding for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/10 "2019-02-15T22:25:18Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Also: it should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: I’m trusting you to only vote once. Why would that go without saying? How many people do you think post here that you’re going to get 8 polls answered with no crossover? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/11 "2019-02-15T22:41:23Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Also: it should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: I’m trusting you to only vote once. No “should.” It doesn’t go without saying. I know nothing about sports and I have no idea how this process is supposed to run. I saw the polls and voted in all 8 before I opened this thread and scrolled down enough to see this post of yours. If I’d seen your admonition up front, I would have voted only once. Sorry if I goofed up your process, but how was I to know, if you bury the instructions? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/12 "2019-02-15T22:43:55Z")
Of course you can vote in all 8 polls. I meant (apparently it wasn’t clear) … please only vote once in each poll. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/13 "2019-02-15T22:44:47Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/14 "2019-02-15T22:47:25Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Of course you can vote in all 8 polls. I meant (apparently it wasn’t clear) … please only vote once in each poll. How can you vote multiple times in the same poll? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/15 "2019-02-15T22:49:18Z")
The only way I know of to vote multiple times in a poll is with sock accounts, which is already against the rules of the forum, and doing so just to vote an extra time in a just-for-fun poll would be an awfully frivolous way to get oneself banned. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/16 "2019-02-15T22:52:08Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Of course you can vote in all 8 polls. I meant (apparently it wasn’t clear) … please only vote once in each poll. Oh. I didn’t think of that interpretation, because with the radio buttons instead of checkboxes, it really does go without saying. “Never mind.” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/17 "2019-02-15T23:43:25Z")
I was under the mistaken impression that it was possible to vote twice in the same poll (I thought i had done so inadvertently myself). If that’s not possible, so much the better…ignore my admonition and carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/18 "2019-02-16T01:44:51Z")
[I’ve started another thread where we can discuss the seeding for future brackets.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=870876) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2019, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/19 "2019-02-16T03:57:11Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > The Biden/Sanders matchup is inappropriate for a first round. They’ve made it to the Sweet 16, so they’re already 2 games in. We have a #1 seed against a scrappy #4. YMMV on which is which ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599/20 "2019-02-18T10:52:06Z")
With less than 6 hours to go: Runaway contests: Biden 51, Sanders 21 Harris 52, Holder 13 Hickenlooper 45, McAuliffe 14 Castro 47, Bloomberg 11 O’Rourke 54, Gabbard 8 A solid lead: Gillibrand 41, Buttigieg 25 Still very much in play: Klobuchar 35, Booker 29 A dead heat: Brown 34, Warren 34 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-field-march-madness-style/829599.md?page=2)