Fraters Libertas

And Then There Were Four

From among the twenty, four shall be chosen. And they have been. The "Quipable Quad" has been selected by your votes. Two of the names are no surprise to anyone who listens regularly to Hugh's show, while the other two have raised a few eyebrows by virtue of their success to this point.

Mark Steyn was heavily favored going into the competition and has proved worthy of the lofty expectations. He dominated his elimination pool to capture the #1 seed, and then rolled over his opponents in each of his head to head matchups, never receiving less than 75% of the vote.

James Lileks was also picked by most to be one of the favorites. Like Steyn, he emerged strongly from his elimination pool and earned the #2 seed. And in Steyn-like fashion he mopped up his two competitors in the one-on-one showdowns without ever being seriously challenged.

Tarzana Joe was the sixth seed overall after the elimination round, and wasn't expected to be much of a factor. He faced a serious challenge in his first contest against David Dreier but used a late surge to veto the Congressman's dreams. Next he had to go toe to toe with the third seeded John McIntyre. It was a slug fest but once again Joe proved his mettle by rallying to edge McIntyre.

The biggest surprise is clearly the twelfth seeded John Eastman. John overcame some significant obstacles to advance. He teaches at an obscure law school that no one's heard of, he belongs to an institute that employs monkeys, and he appears on Hugh's show with a co-guest whose vocal qualities and political viewpoints don't exactly engender positive associations. But despite all that stood in his way, John has battled on Rudy-like to defeat the powerful Frank Gaffney and the politically connected John Campbell to reach the Quipable Quad. Now, I don't use the term hero very often. But John may be the greatest hero in American history. Our hats are off to you sir.

But in this contest, as in life, there is no time to rest on your laurels. And so we kick off the semi-final voting today. It will continue through Sunday, so you'll have plenty of opportunity to make your voice heard. The two winners will meet next week in voting that will begin Monday and run through Friday morning. On Friday the champion will be crowned on Hugh's show.

Time to get down to bidness.