With all this buzz about "fantasy Congress", I figured I'd put together a March Madness-style bracket with the 64 most competitive GOP-held House seats. Anyone who wants to play, e-mail me their entries. The rules are as follows:
I grouped the races by region (with two lower-seeded races out of geographical place to round out the brackets). I also seeded the races. Because this is a Democratic blog, in all cases, we are betting on Democratic challengers. Thus, I did not include the competitive defensive races in (IL-08, GA-08, GA-12, IA-03, or VT-AL). Within each region, I bracketed races by their seed--1 with 16, 2 with 15 and so on, just like the NCAA.
Here's how this is going to work: you pick the winners, but you have to pick by bracket (and made colorful, usually lame titles for each bracket). Thus, to pick, say, Brad Ellsworth in IN-08, you also are picking Colleen Rowley in MN-02. You get 1 point for each win, plus additional points for a winner's seed (a 3 seed gets 4 points; an 11 seed gets 12 points, and so on). Here's the wrinkle: you get 10 points for each bracket you DON'T pick. So, if, say a 3 seed wins but the corresponding 14 seed loses, the people who picked the bracket get 4 points, but the people who didn't get 10.
The brackets (Dem candidates listed first):
East Region
Bracket 1 (Broken Hearts): #1 PA-10 (Chris Carney facing Rep. Don Sherwood) and #16 PA-04 (Jason Altmire facing Rep. Melissa Hart)
Bracket 2 (Down with W): #2 PA-07 (Joe Sestak facing Rep. Curt Weldon) and #15 NY-25 (Dan Maffei facing Rep. Jim Walsh)
Bracket 3 (Still the One who got Foley to run): #3 NY-26 (Jack Davis facing Rep. Tom Reynolds) and #14 NY-19 (John Hall facing Rep. Sue Kelly)
Bracket 4 (Ladies' Choice): #4 PA-06 (Lois Murphy facing Rep. Jim Gerlach) and #13 NJ-07 (Linda Stender facing Rep. Mike Ferguson)
Bracket 5 (Fish n' Franks): #5 NY-24 (Mike Arcuri facing Ray Meier) and #12 NH-02 (Paul Hodes facing Rep. Charles Bass)
Bracket 6 (Shotguns at Chappaquiddick): #6 CT-04 (Diane Farrell facing Rep. Chris Shays) and #11 NY-29 (Eric Massa facing Rep. Randy Kuhl)
Bracket 7 (Pork and Frat Parties): #7 CT-02 (Joe Courtney facing Rep. Rob Simmons) and #10 NY-20 (Kirsten Gillibrand facing Rep. John Sweeney)
Bracket 8 (Team Murphy): #8 PA-08 (Patrick Murphy facing Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick) and #9 CT-05 (Chris Murphy facing Rep. Nancy Johnson)
North Region
Bracket 9 (The Sheriff and the Whistleblower): #1 IN-08 (Brad Ellsworth facing Rep. Jon Hostettler) and #16 MN-02 (Colleen Rowley facing Rep. John Kline)
Bracket 10 (Hawkeye Handoffs): #2 IA-01 (Bruce Braley facing Mike Whalen) and #15 IA-02 (Dave Loebsack facing Rep. Jim Leach)
Bracket 11 (Count Chocula and Frightenberry): #3 IN-02 (Joe Donnelly facing Rep. Chris Chocola) and #14 NE-01 (Maxine Moul facing Rep. Jeff Fortenberry)
Bracket 12 (A Ney Protegee and a Fake Combat Vet):#4 OH-18 (Zack Space facing Joy Padgett) and #13 IL-10 (Dan Seals facing Rep. Mark Kirk)
Bracket 13 (Pryce (is Wrong) and Mean Jean): #5 OH-15 (Mary Jo Kilroy facing Rep. Deborah Pryce) and #12 OH-02 (Victoria Wulsin facing Rep. Jean Schmidt)
Bracket 14 (The Frosh and the Term-Limit Pledge Breaker): #6 IN-09 (Baron Hill facing Rep. Mike Sodrel) and #11 MN-01 (Tim Walz facing Rep. Gil Gutknecht)
Bracket 15 (I Got Nothing): #7 IL-06 (Tammy Duckworth facing Peter Roskam) and #10 OH-01 (John Cranley facing Rep. Steve Chabot)
Bracket 16 (Read My Lips: No New Wingnuts): #8 MN-06 (Patty Wetterling facing Michelle Bachmann) and #9 WI-08 (Steve Kagen facing John Gard)
South Region
Bracket 17 (At Least Ohio Voters Don't Have to Spell Out "Shamansky"): #1 TX-22 (Nick Lampson facing write-in Shelley Sekula-Gibbs) and #16 OH-12 (Bob Shamansky facing Rep. Pat Tiberi)
Bracket 18 (Ousting a Child Predator and a Wingnut): #2 FL-16 (Tim Mahoney facing Rep. Mark Foley (whose votes go to Joe Negron)) and #15 FL-08 (Charlie Stuart facing Rep. Ric Keller)
Bracket 19 (Our QB beats their Fortunate Son): #3 NC-11 (Heath Shuler facing Rep. Charles Taylor) and #14 FL-09 (Phyllis Busansky facing Gus Bilirakis)
Bracket 20 (Medicare Plan D + CAFTA = Early Retirement): #4 FL-22 (Ron Klein facing Rep. Clay Shaw) and #13 NC-08 (Larry Kissell facing Rep. Robin Hayes)
Bracket 21 (Yes, Virginia, there is a Blue Wave Coming): #5 VA-02 (Phil Kellam facing Rep. Thelma Drake) and #12 VA-10 (Judy Feder facing Rep. Frank Wolf)
Bracket 22 (Beating a Used Car Dealer and an "Asshole"): #6 FL-13 (Christine Jennings facing Vern Buchanan) and #11 NY-03 (Dave Mejias facing Rep. Peter King)
Bracket 23 (Blue Bluegrass): #7 KY-04 (Ken Lucas facing Rep. Geoff Davis) and #10 KY-02 (Mike Weaver vs. Rep. Ron Lewis)
Bracket 24 (Potential OT Here): #8 TX-23 (several Dems facing Rep. Henry Bonilla in open primary) and #9 KY-03 (John Yarmuth facing Rep. Anne Northup)
West Region
Bracket 25 (G Force): #1 AZ-08 (Gabrielle Giffords facing Randy Graf) and #16 WA-05 (Peter Goldmark facing Cathy McMorris)
Bracket 26 (Rocky Mountain High): #2 CO-07 (Ed Perlmutter facing Rick O'Donnell) and #15 CO-05 (Jay Fawcett facing Doug Lamborn)
Bracket 27 (All About the Buzz): #3 NM-01 (Patricia Madrid facing Rep. Heather Wilson) and #14 CA-50 (Francine Busby facing Rep. Brian Bilbray)
Bracket 28 (Ladies' Choice II): #4 WA-08 (Darcy Burner facing Rep. Dave Reichert) and #13 AZ-01 (Ellen Simon facing Rep. Rick Renzi)
Bracket 29 (Harry and Gary Unseat the Nuts): #5 AZ-05 (Harry Mitchell facing Rep. J.D. Hayworth) and #12 WY-AL (Gary Trauner facing Rep. Barbara Cubin)
Bracket 30 (Good Grief! California's Sleaziest): #6 CA-11 (Jerry McNerney facing Rep. Richard Pombo) and #11 CA-04 (Charlie Brown facing Rep. John Doolittle)
Bracket 31 (The Homophobe and the Idiot): #7 CO-04 (Angie Paccione facing Rep. Marilyn Musgrave) and ID-01 (Larry Grant facing Bill Sali)
Bracket 32 (What Happens in Vegas (and Reno)...): #8 NV-02 (Jill Derby facing Dean Heller) and #9 NV-03 (Tessa Hafen facing Rep. Jon Porter)