Are you a smarter college basketball fan than John McCain? If so, you can win campaign paraphernalia by matching your March Madness picks against his.

It's a clever marketing ploy by team McCain, but why stop there? Why not have the candidate take positions in predictions markets such as Intrade? Wouldn't we rather know how prescient Senator McCain is about the odds of bird flu striking the United States by the end of September, the chances Pervez Musharraf will step down as Pakistan's president anytime soon, or the likelihood of a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians by January 2009? Put your money where your mouth is, senator.

(Hat tip: Marc Ambinder)