The NCAA Tournament: From a Political Perspective

Political Base: A Different Look At The NCAA Tournament...

[] I thought it would be fun to take a different at the NCAA Tournament. Of the 65 schools in this year's tournament, 42 are located in congressional districts represented by Democrats, while just 23 by Republicans.

Some highlights:

* All four #1 seeds are represented by Democrats;

* Only three first-round games have GOP versus GOP;

* Only two members have more than one school in the tournament -- David Price (D-NC) who claims both UNC and Duke -- and, obscurely, Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) whose district includes Cornell and Binghampton;

* There are a number of opening round games with vast philosophical contrasts, but my favorite is probably Tom Cole (R-OK) versus Elijah Cummings (D-MD). Though, Lamar Smith (R-TX) versus Keith Ellison (D-MN) and John Shadegg (R-AZ) versus Chaka Fattah (D-MD) are strong as well;

* Of the three Kentucky districts in the tournament, missing for the first time since 1991 is the state's basketball capital, the 6th Congressional District, represented by Ben Chandler (D-KY), a district which includes Univ. of Kentucky which broke an 17 year streak of tournament appearances.

Instead, John Yarmuth (D-KY) -- whose district is separated from Chandler's by only one county (Shelby), is the tournament's overall top seed.

Go read the whole thing; he divides the pool up by Congressional Representative.