Thursday, November 02, 2006
JINDAL TOP ROOKIE
Fantasy Congress scores big
Medill News Service
By Lindsay Blakely
(excerpt)
WASHINGTON - Annoyed by the political ads, candidate mass mailings and automated phone calls? There's another way to gauge how good members of Congress are at their jobs.
Before going to the polls, voters can check their stats on:
www.fantasycongress.com.
Claremont McKenna senior Andrew Lee, a political junkie, decided last fall that fantasy football had the potential to make government more interesting to the general public. Lee said if people could "play" politics the way they play fantasy sports, they might in the process become informed voters and interested citizens.
"There is a connection between politics and sports," Lee said. "They are both full-contact games with (players) fighting and wanting to win."
Recent media attention to the site has pushed the number of users to more than 15,000 and prompted a server upgrade to handle the traffic, Lee said.
Before the Republican-dominated Congress recessed for the midterm elections, not surprisingly, the top scorers in every category were Republicans. John Warner from Virginia topped the veteran senators list, Rep. Don Young from Alaska was the No. 1 House all-star and Louisiana Rep. Bobby Jindal led in the rookie category.
