Political leaders’ NCAA picks fizzle

If Americans are going to look to their political leaders for advice, it shouldn’t be for filling out NCAA basketball brackets, the tournament’s second weekend of play demonstrated.

Like millions of other fans, brackets by President Obama, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) were the victims of a series of losses by the tournament’s top seeds over the weekend.

{mosads}Wins by Michigan State and Villanova, along with Missouri’s upset of Memphis earlier in the week, wreaked havoc on the group’s picks.

Perhaps the most affected was McConnell, the only one of the four not to pick North Carolina as his national champion. McConnell had Louisville, which was upset by Michigan State Sunday afternoon.

(McConnell can always fall back on his dream job of being an ESPN anchor for his sports fix. “That would be pretty exciting,” McConnell told U.S. News last weekend. “I think being behind the ESPN desk would be the ultimate fantasy.”)

Obama, McCain, and Boehner did not fare much better. Each has the same Final Four, with only one pick intact (North Carolina) after the weekend’s games.

After last weekend, in which McCain held a big lead over Obama in picks, things have tightened between the presidential election opponents.

McCain leads Obama by only ten points, according to ESPN’s scoring metric. Since the two share identical picks for the rest of the tournament, McCain managed to eke out a win over the president – a small consolation prize to losing the presidential election.