Road to the Finals

I'll be honest, I started this because I didn't feel like researching a bit into something else. I thought, eh I'll just pick one and give a few sentences of explanation for a while and then eventually somebody will win and I can go back to regular blog stuff yeh.

Well, this became a greater undertaking than I had imagined. For nearly every match, I did some research into the presidents before they were president and analyzed how well they would do against each other. My decisions were not infallible, but no one can say I didn't honestly try.

And so, in the day before the John Kennedy vs. George H.W. Bush final matchup, let's examine what happened to get them here and what happened to the candidates I initially thought would do well.

The man I thought would win it all was Theodore Roosevelt. In Round 1, he was matched up against Abraham Lincoln (to the disappointment of some). Roosevelt won in a landslide. In Round 2, he took on Chester Arthur. Corruption is Arthur's downfall as Roosevelt defeats him comfortably. Round 3, Roosevelt finds himself against Ronald Reagan. Roosevelt wins in a second landslide. Moving along to the quarter-finals, Roosevelt matches up with Lyndon Johnson. Lyndon pulls out a narrow victory, and TR's hopes are dashed, so he goes on an African safari.

I trusted that if TR lost, James Garfield would win. In Round 1, he matched up against Martin Van Buren. Garfield wins comfortably. Round 2, Garfield vs. Harding. Harding's policies decided this one, and he lost by a small margin. Round 3, Garfield finds himself overwhelmed by a modern politician. George H.W. Bush defeats him mainly due to Garfield's lack of modern campaign abilities.

These two men were my initial favorites to win the whole deal. But neither made the Final Four.

Now, to examine our finalists' journeys.

John F. Kennedy in Round 1 found himself against John Adams and won in a landslide. Round 2, he runs against Andrew Johnson and wins in a second landslide. Round 3 brought a closer election, but still a win, against Dwight Eisenhower. Going into the quarterfinals, Kennedy faced Harry Truman and won by Catholic and youth votes. In the semi-finals, he defeated Barack Obama. Just barely.

George H. W. Bush faced Calvin Coolidge in Round 1, and won with a large landslide. Round 2 brought FDR against Bush. Bush won again, by a leg. Round 3 put him up against Thomas Jefferson, where he won by "not quite a landslide." The quarterfinals pitted him against James Garfield, and Bush out-politic'd him. In the semi-finals, he faced off against Lyndon Johnson and won in a fairly close election.

So both candidates have shown massive power in their paths to this point, slowing only in the semi-finals against some quality opponents. The only question that matters now is how they ultimately match up against each other.