re: Independent candidates: What if...?

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Paul Ryan would be kingmaker.

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Only partially. The House can only consider the top 3 electoral vote winners. Using the primaries as a guide, that would almost certainly be Clinton, Trump, and Cruz - with the result being President Cruz.

The FAR more interesting proceeding would be the selection of the Vice-President. The House selects the President, but their running mate does not automatically become the VP. The Vice President is selected by the Senate and they can only choose between the top TWO candidates.

Again, using the primary elections as a guide, you would probably see the Electoral college totals go Clinton, Trump, Cruz. Cruz would almost certainly be elected President, but his VP candidate would be out of contention - leaving him forced to work with the Trump VP candidate or even potentially a VP from the Democratic party.