Obama may have waffled on the issue of Georgetown basketball, but the Original Maverick knows better: game-goers spotted former presidential candidate John McCain at last night’s Georgetown-Syracuse game at Verizon Center. And from the looks of it, he was pulling for the right team:

A Metro map with the proposed Silver line

It’s looking increasingly less likely that either of them will be spending the next four years in the D.C. Metro area. The oft-debated Metro line to Dulles International Airport was nearly quashed by the federal government last year, and while preliminary approvals are back on track, you’re not going to be hopping a train to the airport anytime soon. Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) and Sen John Warner (R-Va.) are trying to push the struggling Arizona senator to back the Metro expansion, despite the fact that he voted against a bill that would have given Metro $1.5 billion over the next ten years earlier this month.

I love the Metro as much as the next person, and having a public transportation alternative the Super Shuttle would rock, not to mention the economic development that it would be bring to the suburbs along the proposed line. But McCain’s not looking great as it is, and trying to extract promises on a contentious issue probably isn’t the best way to help him right now. Not that I’m complaining.

David Frum

Political commentators David Frum and Bob Shrum (COL ‘65) appeared at Gaston Hall tonight to discuss the “issues and implications” of the Presidential election.  SFS Professor Jacques Berlinerblau moderated the discussion.

Frum, a leading conservative thinker, served as the current Bush’s speechwriter during his first term and even penned a book about Bush entitled “The Right Man.”

Described by the Atlantic Monthly as “the most sought-after strategist in the Democratic Party,” Shrum is well regarded in the Democratic establishment despite the Shrum curse–every presidential campaign he has played a major role in has failed.

Frum spent a great deal of time discussing the rise and fall of the conservative movement, arguing that the Gingrich Revolution of 1994 will remembered as the high water mark for the conservative movement.  Frum was also very pessimistic about the GOP’s chances in November, saying, “I don’t think there’s a lot of doubt about what the outcome of this election is going to be, and I think it’s time that Republicans talk frankly about this.”

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Let’s hope, at least for John McCain’s sake, that being able to fill out a halfway-decent bracket isn’t a reliable indicator of presidential ability. According to an article from the Canadian Press, McCain has Kansas, Memphis, UNC and Connecticut in the Final Four, with UNC winning it all. For those who haven’t been keeping up with March Madness, the fourth-seeded Huskies were upset yesterday by a tenacious San Diego team, one of the two thirteen seeds to score a big upset yesterday. (Siena also knocked off a four seed in Vanderbilt.) Sorry, John.

Obama also made the safe (and boring, if you ask me) choice of UNC to win it all, with Kansas, UCLA, and Pittsburgh rounding out his Final Four. A fairly balanced slate—three one seeds and a four seed to spice things up. I think Obama’s onto something choosing Pitt, too. If the Fields-Young-Blair trio keeps playing like it has been in the past few games, I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama’s prediction of some Final Four Panther-action turns out to be right.

Lastly, we have Bill Clinton, who sees Georgetown making it to the Final Four but no further. Clinton also chose North Carolina, Memphis and UCLA for the Final Four. “My heart’s with Georgetown,” he said, according to the Canadian Press article, “but my head tells me it’s going to be Carolina or Memphis.” A fair number of Hoya fans seem to share Clinton’s attitude, at least from what I’ve seen. They want Georgetown to win, but don’t believe it’s going to happen.

I’m not going to argue with those fans—Tyler Hansborough is indisputably a beast, Memphis is a squad to be reckoned with, etc.—but I will say this. Watching some of Georgetown’s sub-par performances (Big East final, anyone?), your head might be telling you that the Hoyas can’t go all the way. But if there was a time when you need to abandon the logic of your right brain for the fanhood of your left brain, now would be that time.  And if the first round taught us anything (two 12-13 match-ups in the round of 32?  really?), it’s that the most obvious choices aren’t always the right ones.

Mitt Romney withdrew from the G.O.P. 2008 primary and Senator John McCain outlined his platform to a crowd of roughly 10,000 people at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) today. Speakers at the thirty-fifth annual CPAC, held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel also included Vice President Dick Cheney and Congressman Ron Paul.

Former Virginia Senator George Allen used his introduction to endorse McCain, saying he was convinced by McCain’s integrity.  When McCain finally entered the room, he was greeting by some booing amid the applause.

“I came to political office as a foot soldier of Ronald Reagan,” McCain said, “and I’m as proud of my political heritage now as I was then.”

McCain discussed many issues from fiscal spending, the Iraq War, abortion and Supreme Court appointees. His remarks on immigration elicited jeering and shouts of “No amnesty!” from the audience.  But when he mentioned tax cuts, the audience gave McCain a standing ovation.

“The first thing I will do is make the Bush tax cuts permanent, and increase tax cuts for corporations from 25 to 35 percent,” he said.

McCain ended the speech with a reference to his past as a war hero.  “I have only found true happiness while serving a cause greater than my self interest…which is our country,” he said, “I love her deeply and never tire of serving her.”

Following Romney’s announcement, some of his supporters traded in their Romney paraphernalia for the McCain posters being handed out.

Photo by Vivian Chen, Contributing Editor

If political pundits have taught us anything this primary cycle, it’s that we shouldn’t be listening to political pundits.  McCain, now the G.O.P. front-runner, was declared dead over the summer (his campaign, that is—he’s not that old), the press all but pronounced Hillary the Democratic nominee earlier this year, and the New Hampshire Democratic polls were about as wrong as wrong can be.

Fortunately, Mike Madden over at Salon.com has found one indicator that has been consistently spot-on: our very own Georgetown Hoyas.

As it happens, the Hoyas have been a near-perfect predictor of McCain’s fortunes this year. The last time Georgetown lost a game was the night before the Michigan primary, when Pitt beat them 69-60; the next day, Romney beat McCain. The day of the South Carolina primary, where McCain narrowly beat Mike Huckabee to avenge his 2000 loss to George W. Bush, the Hoyas crushed Notre Dame.

Madden wrote this before the Hoyas played last night and before the primary results came in, so he had a little prediction.

So who do the Hoyas play tonight? Big East bottom-dwellers South Florida. Playing in D.C., the Bulls are probably bigger underdogs than Romney is (though his loss to Huckabee in West Virginia, orchestrated by McCain strategists at the last minute, doesn’t bode well for him). If they can pull off the upset, surely Romney can, too. But if the Hoyas hang on to win, as expected, McCain might do the same. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. Eastern — just in time for the polls to close.

Prescient, Mr. Madden.

The system will really be put to the test on Saturday though, when the Hoyas play at Louisville and Kansas, Louisiana, and Washington all have their primaries.  Given their recent romps of Marquette and Rutgers, I imagine that Louisville is going to put up quite a fight.  But rest easy, Senator McCain.  No one can stop Big Roy.

Via The Van Buren Boys