Occasionally, members of Congress are just like the rest of us.  

Wander around the Capitol the next few weeks and you’re just as likely — if not more 
—
to see TVs tuned to the NCAA tournament as to C-SPAN or cable news. And this year, some top lawmakers are having their brackets put to the test in a Yahoo! group arranged by friend of HOH and Roll Call alumna Meredith Shiner.  

Shiner was once the sports editor of the Duke Chronicle , the student newspaper at the perennial basketball powerhouse.  

Speaker John A. Boehner, who filled out the bracket that came in Roll Call earlier this week, had already made his public on Instagram. The Ohio Republican and quite a few of his colleagues agree the University of Kentucky is the pick to win it all in Indianapolis in early April.  

House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., stressed in a statement to Yahoo! sent with his bracket that he actually thinks the Maryland Terrapins will upset the mighty Wildcats and thwart UK’s bid for an undefeated season. But, Hoyer said, “I didn’t want to jinx Maryland by picking them against Kentucky — but I think Maryland is going to beat Kentucky! Go Terps.”  

It did not appear that any of the lawmakers involved decided to seek favorable treatment from the host, as none of the brackets available before the games tip off featured Coach K’s Blue Devils going all the way.  

One lawmaker going in a different direction? Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., who has the Mountaineers of West Virginia University upending another team from Kentucky, the Louisville Cardinals, in the national championship game.  

Of course, Louisville and West Virginia have some history in the Senate, with Manchin and current Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., having sparred during the conference realignment shuffle over which of the schools out of the old Big East would be invited to join the Midwest-based Big XII conference.  

WVU won out in that contest, though Louisville found a home in the Atlantic Coast Conference.  

Make your picks for the Roll Call members’ bracket here .  

The 114th: CQ Roll Call’s Guide to the New Congress


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