@Zoe- this is always the challenge for democracy – it’s not always who is eligible to vote that matters, but who actually casts the vote. I expect that this contest has created more than a few “GOTV” efforts by readers looking to swing things one way or another…

However, if that’s true,then the original brackets were likely missing some true founders of geekdom – Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, and Benjamin Franklin, just for starters.

(If anyone doubts Franklin was a geek, compare his life to Jobs or one of the Googleboys… he was just too early for actually *using* electricity to do things, but he helped get it all started.)

Which brings up an interesting idea – if reincarnation is true, then who would be the reincarnation of Verne, Franklin, or, lesse…. Orson Welles, maybe?

Randall Munroe > Simon Pegg

QED

I’d really have to know more about what the position entailed and how much time it would take away from the activities we like them for. I guess Tom Lehrer would be a good choice since he hasn’t performed much recently anyway, and claims to have voted for Obama. But I don’t think it’d be nice of us to make him work in politics.

There’s nobody in this round that I think would be suitable in a pretending-to-take-this-seriously way. Either I’ve never heard of them, I don’t think they’re geeky, or I’d prefer them to continue what they’re doing. Well, maybe Hodgman would do, since I haven’t actually read his books, and he doesn’t do Coultonised booksignings anywhere near me, so I probably wouldn’t miss him that much during his term. I wouldn’t miss TMBG either, but I don’t really think they’re geeky. Though electing two people to the position might be an advantage, but that seems unusual for politics. In fact, The Wanderer, why don’t you refuse to vote for candidates which consist of more than one person? I doubt a duo could serve in any single cabinet position, or whatever these positions are called in the US.

No fictional or dead people should ever have been included in the list of candidates in the first place, unless there is some way to arrange for them to be able to serve if chosen; the fact that any were included means that no one is even pretending to take this seriously. I think it’s interesting enough to take part in anyway, but at least one of my brothers (who happens to be arguably significantly geekier than I am) is refusing to even look at the site because of that flaw.

(For the record, I much prefer Hitchhiker’s to Penny Arcade – I don’t even read the latter, and haven’t been greatly impressed by what I’ve seen over other people’s shoulders. It’s just that living, potentially-real people get an automatic pass when up against dead or definitely-fictional people – that also being a major part of the reason I voted for Jobs.)

Kaylee is the right choice for the second one, although I suspect a lot of people are voting with their penis (how very dexterous).

Match 3 I don’t really think matters because either should lose in the next round.

and Finally Douglas Adams… Again I love Gabe and Tycho but I think even they would have to admit that even in non-corporeal form Douglas would be a shoo-in. If you voted against him you probably don’t even realise how much of geek-culture just wouldn’t exist without him. As for the guy who said he is a Genus, that may have been a typo, but it’s probably still true. He was a breed all his own and sorely missed.

Man, I wish I were a Douglasadams sapiens. Yes, Man, I’m talking to you.

(Now trying to figure out what the tune is that I’m singing ‘Oh, I wish I were a Douglasadams sapiens’ to in my head. Argh, I think it’s the Oscar Mayer wiener song. And I’ve never even heard that except from imitations in movies.)

2. Steve Jobs. I’m not very fond of him – if nothing else, he’s a businessman, not a geek – but Kaylee is fictional, and so can’t serve unless someone’s finally achieved transfictional travel, and so isn’t qualified to be a candidate in the first place. (Not to mention that she’d be so far out of tune with our time and culture that her qualifications would be in question in any case.)

3. TMBG. This one wasn’t an easy decision, not because either side is all that great (though both are quite good), but because neither is obviously better than the other. I just happen not to have seen much of Hodgman aside from the Mac/PC commercials, whereas I like TMBG quite a bit, and haven’t heard nearly as many bad things about them as about him.

4. Gabe and Tycho. They might be fictional and so disqualified the same way as Kaylee, but they also might not (we really need a ruling on that), and Adams is dead and so couldn’t serve unless someone’s managed to reach beyond the grave and so isn’t qualified to be a candidate in the first place. He’s a great and glorious figure, and definitely geeky enough and legendary enough to qualify, and I’d vote for him here in a heartbeat if he were still alive – but he isn’t, so he’s not an option.

1. The toughest choice of this round. RM wins by a hair only because he gives us geekery three times a week.

2. Kaylee because I’m not a Mac fanboi and I prefer “cute” over “marketing shill” any day.

3. TMBG by a mile. Hodgman is a bit… manufactured, while TMBG earned their stripes over 20 years. And in another 20 years, it’s TMBG’s music I’ll be listening to… not Hodgman’s commercials (harsh, yes, but it’s important to consider the long view in this competition).

4. Adams by a parsec. I dig Gabe and Tycho, but they have not and probably will never open the eyes and minds of young adults the way Adams’ books did for so many of my generation. Hats do go off to all three gentlemen for their extensive charity work.

I don’t see how Steve Jobs could be losing to the fictional Frye. I also don’t see why Steve Wozniak was overlooked. Although to be fair, the Wizard of Woz didn’t have the “Dancing With the Stars” credit in his resume when this competition began.

I agree with Molly, TMBG should beat out Hodgeman, but I doubt that they will. Not unless someone makes some amazingly persuasive Tweets to the TMBG fans. I think that whoever wins the Hodgeman/TMBG contest has the best chance of taking down this WHOLE thing! I just don’t think there’s anybody else on the board with their combination of Geek Street Cred and rabid fan base.

That being said, if you want someone cute and sexy to be minister of geek affairs, vote for her! You’re not going to find anything better on the geek ticket.