If the NCAA ran our presidential elections

Number of losses: In the BCS system, losing just one regular-season game can knock a team down a notch. While there's no equivalent for the preseason of presidential politics, I thought I'd include the category simply because I'm a believer that experiencing a losing campaign, just once, matters in growing the thick skin needed to be president. For our purposes, having a loss tells us something positive about a candidate. Take a look at every major-party nominee in the modern era of politics (since TV) -- just about every national candidate experienced defeat in some election.

Candidates learn a lot from losing. So on this score, the candidates who have seen the abyss and are consequently best prepared to survive a political near-death experience are McCain for the Republicans (though most of his top-tier opponents have also lost campaigns in their past) and Biden for the Democrats. McCain's loss was on one of the biggest stages (the 2000 Republican primary). Biden's '88 presidential campaign debacle was so potentially humiliating that it's possible nothing will faze him 20 years later.

Conference strength: Obviously, the BCS system rewards the conferences with the greatest tradition, and recently, the ones who host conference championship games. The presidential equivalent of this is geographic electoral strength, which is electability in the general. For the Republicans, either McCain or Giuliani are seen as the most electable, with McCain getting the edge since he seems to poll so well with conservative Democrats. In addition, McCain hails from one of the new geographic battlegrounds of the political landscape: the West. On the Democratic side, the "electable" tag seems to fit well with all of the red-state guys, including Bayh, Vilsack and Edwards. For now, the nod has to go to Edwards, since polls have shown him polling best (at least pre-Obamamania) in national general election matchups.

Television appeal: This is where bias really kicks in with the BCS. How much of a penalty did Michigan pay in the two human polls because they had already faced Ohio State? How many voting members in those polls ranked Florida ahead of Michigan simply because they didn't want to watch a rematch? Using this logic in the presidential primaries, there is little chance that the media is seriously going to want to see anyone other than Clinton or Obama be the Democratic nominee (better story, or better ratings). And for the Republicans, McCain, and to a lesser extent, Giuliani, score well. But it's likely that if Clinton is the Democratic nominee, the media wouldn't want a "regional" national title matchup with Giuliani and would instead find the appeal of McCain more "national."

The way this country determines its viable presidential candidates is almost as silly as the BCS system. If the presidential system were more open, like the NCAA college basketball tournament, then any old George Mason, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) or Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) could have a legitimate shot at crashing the party. But alas, it's not. Maybe some day -- and maybe the Internet -- is going to allow more Masons (or Deans) to get through. But for now, the powers that be have a stranglehold that's not dissimilar to what the major conferences have done with college football. It's good for the media, but is it good for the voters?

MORE FROM NATIONAL JOURNAL

National Journal Section Front

Walter: GOP can break negative cycle Mercurio: Gunning for a new RNC Cook: How will Democrats govern? Brownstein: The GOP's dangerous imbalance Blumenthal: Pollsters pretty accurate National Journal Section Front