Politics becomes a 'Fantasy' sport

WASHINGTON -- It's a game that offers a lesson in lawmaking and the chance to keep track of your senator at the same time.

Fantasy Congress -- modeled after fantasy sports in which participants draft a team from Congress and gain points with those lawmakers' legislative activity -- is being used increasingly by students and teachers for some civics education outside the textbook.

Instead of a fantasy team headed by Roger Clemens, players can choose a political pitcher like New York's Hillary Clinton or Mississippi's Trent Lott. And just like in fantasy baseball, players can obsess over statistics, as in "Who got more legislative points this year, Massachusetts' liberal lion Edward M. Kennedy, or Oklahoma's fiscal conservative James Inhofe?" (The answer: Inhofe, by far: 1794-871.)

"Think of us as sort of the 'Schoolhouse Rock' of the 21st century," said Andrew Lee, a student at Claremont McKenna College in California and one of the game's creators.

When the site was launched in October, there were 800 members. Today there are more than 23,000, Lee said, many of whom are high school and college students playing for fun.

In Fantasy Congress, players choose nine House members and four senators and gain points for every legislative action their team members take. This makes certain lawmakers more valuable than others, just as in fantasy sports.

For example, right now Arizona Senator John McCain is worth twice as much as Massachusetts' John F. Kerry. And Clinton is worth three times North Carolina's Elizabeth H. Dole.

The game also gives details about every bill pending or passed this year and uses flow charts to explain the process of a bill becoming law -- from introduction to presidential signing -- and the complex obstacles along the way.

Pete Mason, a high school history teacher in upstate New York, plans to use Fantasy Congress as extra credit when he teaches seniors about government and to have a contest for whoever can draft the league with the most points. "It adds a new spectrum to classrooms," Mason said. "You want to make teaching as interactive as possible, and this is the definition of interactive education."

Mason said he likes that the game also summarizes real legislation -- which enhances understanding of the world.

"You have maybe [Illinois Senator] Barack Obama introducing a bill about the genocide in the Sudan," Mason said. "That could lead directly to a discussion as to should we be intervening or should we not intervene."

Preeta Willemann, 15, is a student in Pleasantville, N.Y., and competes in her school's Mock Federal Congress, debating legislation on various national issues. Before she started playing Fantasy Congress, she was familiar with only a few senators and whichever congressmen appeared on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."

"My favorite part about Fantasy Congress is the way it truly provides a drive to keep on top of politics," Willemann said.

The game carries a built-in bias in favor of the party holding the majority in each chamber -- since it can push through more legislation. But one of the revelations of Fantasy Congress is how prolific some members of the minority party can be. And savvy players say that shrewd picks can come from those in the minority party who cosponsor bills with those in the opposite party.

"I like that it's beneficial to cross the aisle in the game," said Matt Hughes, 22, a student at the State University of New York in New Paltz.

Currently, nine of the top 10 point-earning members of Congress are Republicans, which may change with the Democrats taking control of Congress in January. But Lee said players will still have to readjust their league's weekly according to the activity on Capitol Hill.

Lee, a self-described political junkie, came up with the idea for Fantasy Congress in 2005, when his roommate was constantly playing fantasy football.

Lee enlisted two technologically-savvy friends, Arjun Lall and Ethan Andyshak, as well as fellow Claremont McKenna College student Ian Hafkenschiel. The four friends worked on the site through the summer, and Fantasy Congress debuted in October, funded with a $5,000 prize from a school-sponsored, Web-based entrepreneur award.

Lee plans to add features to enhance the game's educational appeal. "People know how a bill becomes a law, but they don't know the intricacies of it," he said. "If more people cared about government the way they cared about sports, we'd have a better government."