Fantasy Legislation League

I am all hopped up about this idea. Fantasy football is ubiquitous. The concept is easily absorbed and really requires minimal start up energy. There are a dozen major sites that run giant databases giving users access to impressive statistical tools and data to help maintain sometimes unhealthy obsessions with their teams; so why not turn this new medium on to subject matter more worthy of our collective energy and resources?



Why am I playing in the first place? I want to compete with a group of friends and/or coworkers in some sort of pool--for a nominal amount of money but mostly for the joy of competition and bragging rights. Once the parameters are set, we build a team, we're off collecting info and making the moves to jockey us to the top. We can trash-talk, commiserate, co-analyze and have fun. Does it matter if it is football, baseball golf or...politics?

Fantasy Legislation leagues would need to parallel what works well in the current leagues. They need to have an objective scoring system and clear, easy to follow rules. At first glance I was thinking a league of 12 teams forms and each team selects (via draft of course) about 10 players. The starting lineup would consist of a Governor, 2 Senators, 3 State Reps and a flex legislator (could be an extra Senator or Congressman)..you would then fill out a bench that would come into play as you adjust to changing conditions in the landscape.

You could have an all Dem league/all Rep league or a mix league..maybe that is part of the fun; constructing a team that has a mix forced on it--you need to have at least 3 Reps on your team--or if you pick a Blue Governor, your Reps all have to be from Red States (or have to actually be Republicans maybe).

The stat possibilities are crazy. You could work with local money raised, votes in election cycle (or winning percentage in their race more likely),performance ratings from same large-well known independent ratings groups, public approval ratings (changes) or even economic or population data pulled from their districts (nice, the population in my Rep's district is up 3% this month--suck it).

New idea that needs a lot of work but it might be worth looking into...