By: Joe Strupp If the participants in The Washington Post's online Midterm Madness game are correct, today's voting will lead to a Congress controlled by the Democratic Party.
The Web site game is modeled on the NCAA college basketball tournament bracket contests that draw challengers each spring. It launched last month seeking those interested in picking the winners of each House and Senate seat up for grabs this year.
After logging on, instead of a tournament bracket, players were given a seating map of either the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate, with information on the names of candidates for each seat and background data on the race and the district or state. After choosing who will take each of the 435 House seats and the 30 Senate seats up for grabs this year, players entered their picks and become eligible for $100, $50 or $25 American Express gift certificate, official said.
Final tallies as of this morning indicated some 3,833 people had entered their choices, with 1,524 predicting a Democratic-controlled Congress, 1124 predicting a Republican-controlled Congress, and 1,185 expecting a split Congress.
"There is plenty of interest in politics on the Web," James Brady, executive editor of washingtonpost.com, said about what prompted the game. "We liked the idea of turning it into something that is fun, but also a way to get people more invovled."
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