Everybody In The Pool

THEY MAY get into some nasty scrapes, but the three main presidential contenders are of one mind when it comes to March Madness—North Carolina is the team to beat. The Tar Heels enjoyed strong bipartisan support in the pols' NCAA tournament brackets: Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have Carolina going all the way. Hillary Clinton, who didn't release a bracket, said she was deferring to her husband, who tabbed North Carolina or Memphis to win it all. (Bill picked only a Final Four, and it included his alma mater, Georgetown.)

For a guy whose degree of conservatism has come under question from the right, McCain certainly played it close to the vest when filling out his bracket. The presumptive Republican nominee went with the chalk pick in 25 of the 32 first-round games—and one of the higher seeds that he picked was a pork-barrel job (No. 10 Arizona over West Virginia, which didn't pan out). He hit three upsets (two 8--9 games and 12th-seeded Villanova over Clemson). Obama's picks also reflected a distinct distaste for change in the basketball world. The Illinois senator tabbed six underdogs and nailed just two (ninth-seeded Texas A&M over BYU and No. 10 Davidson over Gonzaga).

Using the standard seed-times-round scoring, Obama holds a slim 133--132 lead. But, like the larger presidential race, this contest is still too close to call.