Political playoffs

Democrats Bracket

• Non-White-Male, Senate-Based Front-runners

Frank Franklin Ii / AP Clinton

Tannen Maury / EPA Obama

It is a testament to changing times, to the societal digestive powers of America — and, some say, to the Democrats’ instinct for their own jugular — that the party’s front-runners are a stoical former first lady despised by half the country and an African-American senator with the middle name of Hussein. Still, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are formidable talents, and their presence at center stage gives the Democrats a chance to be the party of the future in a multidimensional 21^st century world. If the issue is change, is Hillary’s gender enough to make that case? If the challenge is to unite the country, does Obama have the strength to match his smile? Hillary has the machine; Obama has the dream.

• Southern/Southwestern Outsiders Who Were Insiders

Stephen Chernin / Getty Images Richardson

Gary Malerba / AP Edwards

Gov. Bill Richardson and John Edwards have seen Washington from the inside — the former as a Clinton Cabinet member, the latter as a U.S. senator.  Now they are back home, in New Mexico and North Carolina, respectively, claiming to speak truth to the Power they once were part and parcel of. The son of a Mexican and the son of a mill worker, each cites his personal experience, and his regional roots, as central to his candidacy.

• Distinguished Senior Senators with Grit and Blarney

Frank Franklin Ii / AP Biden

Isaac Brekken / AP Dodd

Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, friends and rivals, have been in the U.S. Senate, collectively, for more than half a century. Both are exemplars of the best of the Irish-American political mind at work: savvy, delighting in life and its ironies, lovers of amusing characters and healthy combat. Both know a lot about the world, having applied their street smarts to the planet entire. Are they both a tad too “senatorial” — meaning that they spend too much time talking about markups and moving legislation? Of course. There is not a shred of naiveté in either one. These days, that is a good credential.

• Anti-war Grass-roots (Tom) Paines-in-the-Neck

Stephen Chernin / Getty Images Kucinich

Ethan Miller / Getty Images Gravel

Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Alaska Gov. Mike Gravel speak directly from and to the out-of-Iraq, never-should-have-gone-into-Iraq core of the Democratic Party. The televised debates are a special godsend to them and, some would argue, to a party that needs to have a real, soul-searching debate about how, if at all, its foreign policy would fundamentally differ from that of George W. Bush. Choose your literary reference: Banquo’s Ghost or Greek Chorus. Either way they are a nagging conscience, posing questions that the soundbiters out front don’t want to answer.

So that's the lineup for now. I'll have to redo the whole thing if Al Gore gets in, of course. But he's a conference of his own.

Picking the president — the candidates Click a name below to visit that candidate’s MSNBC page • Joe Biden                 • Sam Brownback     • Hillary Clinton          • Chris Dodd • John Edwards         • Rudy Giuliani           • Mike Gravel              • Duncan Hunter • Mike Huckabee        • Dennis Kucinich     • John McCain           • Barack Obama • Ron Paul                    • Bill Richardson      • Mitt Romney            • Tom Tancredo • Fred Thompson To subscribe to a candidate page RSS feed, click here.

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