The Fix’s Sweet 2016 bracket competition!

The Fix loves March Madness. Filling out a bracket is one of our true pleasures in life.

I am not a basketball person, but this may be interesting. There is a voting link at bottom of page, go and answer the questions. 

 

Posted by Chris Cillizza on March 20, 2013 at 9:00 am

So, we got to thinking. If a bracket competition works for college hoops, why not for presidential politics? 

Out of that idea, The Fix’s Sweet 2016 was born! (Click on the bracket for a larger version.)

The idea is pretty simple. We picked 32 candidates — 16 Democrats, 16 Republicans — who may run for president in 2016. We seeded them and then matched them up according to that seeding. (For ideological consistency, Democrats are on the left in the bracket below while Republicans are on the right.)

The first round of the Fix Sweet 2016 — much like the first round of the NCAA tournament — has a number of intriguing matchups.



* A 1 vs 16 fight between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and longtime Clinton aide and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

* Two in-state battles in the GOP bracket: Ohio Gov. John Kasich (8) vs Ohio Sen. Rob Portman (9) and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (6) vs Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (11).

* Typically in the NCAA tournament the 5 vs 12 matchup produces the most first round upsets. Our Sweet 2016 5 vs 12′s: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (5) vs Newark Mayor Cory Booker (12) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (5) vs former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (12).

Vote on your 1st round choices — for both Republicans and Democrats — below. We’ll close the voting on round one Monday March 25 at noon and unveil the 16 candidates left standing the next morning. We’ll continue to whittle down the field until we get to a one on one matchup with one representative from the Democratic bracket and one representative from the Republican bracket. And, just like the NCAA tourney, the winner will be announced Monday April 8.

Get voting!  Have fun!