He Shouldda Picked Pitt

Noted basketball-expert-cum-President Barack Obama filled out his NCAA Tournament brackets today live on ESPN. The Baller-in-Chief’s record is excellent – he correctly picked UNC to go all the way last year and predicted three of the Final Four. Given his well-demonstrated love of the game (and his picks), I have to believe that the Leader of the Free World didn’t let domestic political considerations affect his picks for the tournament. But considering how many of his fellow Democrats in Congress are staring electoral defeat in the face this November, maybe he should have. Some of the schools that don’t fare well in the president’s bracket:

• Pittsburgh – though President Obama has the Panthers going to the Sweet Sixteen, Representative Jason Altmire (D-PA) is facing a tough challenge in a traditionally Republican district north of Pittsburgh and could use some more help from the First Bracketeer. This is assuaged only by the fact that many rural Pennsylvanians root for the West Virginia Mountaineers, whom President Obama has making it to the Final Four.
• Ohio teams (Ohio State, OU, Xavier) – Ah, Ohio, the perpetual swing state. The President has Ohio falling to Georgetown in the first round and OSU being slain by the same Beast of the Big East in the Sweet Sixteen. As a die-hard Hoyas fan, I have no problem whatsoever with this. Xavier, hailing from Cincinnati, is projected to lose in the Round of 32. However, perhaps Obama should have considered that Democratic Reps. Steve Dreihaus (OH-1), Betty Sutton (OH-13), Mary-Jo Kiroy (OH-15), John Boccieri (OH-16), and Zack Space (OH-18) are all facing tough challenges from Republican opponents. That’s five of the 25 seats Democrats are projected to lose in 2010. I don’t mind some Presidential love for the Blue and Gray, but perhaps it would have been more prudent to throw Ohio Democrats a bone.
• Indiana teams (Purdue, Notre Dame, Butler) – Although Obama has Butler going all the way to the Sweet Sixteen, #4 seed Purdue is set to lose in one of President’s Obama’s few projected upsets to Siena. The Fighting Irish don’t get off much better, losing to Baylor in the second round. Not necessarily wise, when South Bend’s second-term Democratic congressman Joe Donnelly (IN-2) is barely holding on against GOP state representative Jackie Wolarski. Democrat Baron Hill (IN-9), too, is down eight points against Republican challenger Mike Sodrel.
• UNLV – regardless of whether Harry Reid is an asset or a liability for the president, the guy’s going to lose his seat this year. At least give his state a first-round victory.

It’s silly, I know, but prediction becomes preference – the president has a reputation for accuracy to keep up, after all. Voters have made choices based on sillier things before.

As a Republican and a Georgetown fan, I have no personal interest in advising President Obama on his basketball diplomacy.  My only dog in the fight is Jack the Bulldog.

But a congressional windfall for the GOP this year could bode ill for the president’s chances of reelection in 2012. If I were President Obama, though, I wouldn’t worry too much about my post-presidential prospects. After all, I hear ESPN is hiring.