December 08, 2006

On The Trail: If The NCAA Ran Our Presidential Elections

Like any college football fan, my disgust for the Bowl Championship Series system, which decides the sport's mythical national champion, knows no bounds. And since it's December (translation: slow news season), what better time to combine two of my passions in life -- politics and college football -- into one column?

Fortunately, unlike college football, the parties' nomination processes still include some playoffs (the primaries) but the way the field winnows prior to the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries too closely resembles the backward methods the BCS uses when anointing two teams to play for the national title. So let's identify some of the same factors to narrow down the presidential field that sports writers and football coaches use to determine the national title contenders.

Strength Of Schedule: In the college football world, this factor is applied sporadically, depending upon pedigree. If the team is new, like Rutgers (or, say, California GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter), then suddenly schedule strength becomes the ultimate judgment about its place in college football. But if it's Notre Dame (or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.), the lack of tough opponents (Army or Obama's '04 Senate opponent, Republican Alan Keyes) just isn't given the same weight by the powers that be.

Now, let's look at the candidates in the race just by the strength of the schedule (i.e., the races they've run in the past and whether that prepares them for the tough task of the general). [CHUCK TODD]

Continue Reading On The Trail.

Posted at 11:50 AM

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