Obama picks Florida to win title, McCain picks UNC

[rep the dems]

Another reason for me to like Obama! :toast:

March 15, 2007— ABC News' Jennifer Parker, Bret Hovell and Teddy Davis Report: '08 Presidential Candidates Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL., and Sen. John McCain, R-AZ don't appear on the surface to have much in common.

However, the two presidential hopefuls have connected on one issue that may earn them the goodwill of many in the vote-rich state of Florida — the NCAA basketball tournament.

Both senators are picking the Gators be in the Final Four.

Obama's campaign tells ABC News that the senator has selected Florida to win the basketball tournament.

"He said Florida was peaking at the right time and therefore he thought they'd go all the way," said Obama spokesperson Dan Pfeiffer.

"But he's confident that the Salukis (Southern IL) will go a long way in the tournament," Pfeiffer said, in a politically prudent tip of the hat to the senator's district team.

McCain has also picked Florida to advance to the Final Four.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, McCain's overall Final Four picks are fairly conservative. His selections — Florida, Kansas, North Carolina and Ohio State — are all No. 1 seeds. McCain picks UNC to defeat Kansas in the final.

In what is perhaps the most creative campaign strategy so far, McCain has posted his 2007 tournament bracket on his official presidential website.

Users must register their name and address on www.johnmccain.com, and can then view McCain's picks and make predictions of their own. The website says winners will receive a McCain '08 campaign hat, fleece jacket or pin.

"Senator McCain is a huge sports fan," said Matt David, a spokesman for the McCain campaign. "We felt that this was good way to share some of his hobbies with his supporters."

Last week at a fundraiser in New York, McCain took questions from the audience and from viewers over the internet. One of the electronic questions asked him for his tournament picks. David said this gave the campaign the idea to post the Senator's entire bracket online.

In addition to having a bit of fun, the campaign might be on to a new way to solicit supporters. Users who do take part in the bracket will be added to the campaign's e-mail list.



Who picks all #1 seeds in the Final Four? And out of all of them, UNC to win it all? I really hope he's wrong, otherwise I'm going to feel like an idiot for posting this

[Reverend_Smitty]

1. Before I read your comment...

I thought to myself "no real sports fan picks all #1 seeds!" lol Great minds think alike I guess :P

[rep the dems]

2. What fun is it to pick all #1 teams?

And when does that EVER happen? But then again it is McCain :toast:

[northzax]

3. but in McCain's world, this makes sense

the rich and powerful always win.

[Reverend_Smitty]

4. It's actually never happened in the history of the tournament

btw all of my final 4 teams are still in it, but I screwed up too much in the early rounds to even remotely be competitive in my pool this year

[rep the dems]

5. Mine are all in too. I'm not competing for money so no biggie if I don't

win. Some first round mistakes cost me a bit, but I could still pull it off. Who are your final four? I've got Florida, Texas A&M, Georgetown, and Southern Illinois (yes Southern Illinois).

[Reverend_Smitty]

7. Same as you except I have UCLA instead of Southern Illinois

I only bet $10 so it's not the end of the world if I don't win (have been playing for 10 years and haven't won a thing) but it's fun to try and top prize this year is over $700

[erpowers]

6. UNC Can Do It

I think UNC can do it. Maybe I am wrong but, I picked them to win it all in one of my five brackets. Flordia might win it all, but I did think Ohio State and UNC has better chances at winning. My major choice to win it all was Ohio State. I just thought with Greg Oden and the other player on the team Ohio State could do win it all.

[Longhorn]

8. This is my year to root for the Aggies to win a national title.

There were plenty of Aggies who cheered for us when we won it in football last year. I also have an Aggie son-in-law. :)

Gig 'em, Aggies!

[HuckleB]

9. Uh oh.

The Elite eight has nothing but one and two seeds, except for Oregon, and they're a three seed.

McCain may be more right than anyone expected. Lucky bastard.

[Awsi Dooger]

10. This was a year it made sense

The top four seeds were all legit, as opposed to most years. They were the top four teams in my preseason ratings, the first year that has ever happened.

Sometimes you get mush teams play themselves into a phony top seed. That nearly happened with Wisconsin this year. Naturally teams like that will flub and not make the final four, since they aren't #1 seed caliber to begin with.

These were the preseason rankings I use, for the remaining teams:

#1 North Carolina
#2 Florida
#3 Kansas
#4 Ohio State
#7 UCLA
#8 Georgetown
#13 Memphis
#47 Oregon

Great to see a year unfold with virtually every team being legit. Memphis is a weak #2 seed, as my overall #13. Should have been a #3 or strong #4. The joke draw was Florida, with nothing else of high caliber in their bracket.

[qanda]

11. I came back to find this thread

Because I was thinking the same thing. I picked three number 1 seeds to be in the final four and I'm still in the running for our pool.