but maybe I missed something and "real money" office pools are now quite legal.

"during his short flight from Fayetteville to Charlotte, Obama began working on his NCAA basketball tournament bracket. The campaign staff is competing in a $10 per person pool. When the plane landed, an aide asked whom Obama was supporting. The senator joked that his was a scientific process and he could not be rushed into making his picks"

I'm sure the winner will donate the prize $$ to charity though...

SANFORD, N.C. — March Madness boils down to brackets and the art of bracketology. The popular sport of the "office pool" is an annual part of the game, but if you pay to play, you can bet that it is illegal.

"It's gambling," Lee County Assistant District Attorney Ed Page said. "Depending on your record, it's punishable by up to 60 days in jail."

clifton always had tootski...

-- Modified on 3/19/2008 6:12:41 PM

The nerve of you to hold him to the same standards as everybody else.

so is commercial sex, yet here we are.

calls across state lines placing any of these bets, it becomes a felony.  Oops, that negates the brother's ability to run for President.  You can only be a congressperson if you are a felon, not POTUS

That only applies if you are a CONVICTED felon. Committing a felony doesn't matter unless you are found guilty in a court of law. OJ can still constitutionally become POTUS.

Furthermore, in North Carolina (where he was at the time according to the blurb), gambling is only a Class II misdemeanor.

Hey, I'm no legal scholar, but wouldn't "felon" indicate that a conviction occurred on an individual? Prior to becoming a felon, isn't someone called a "suspect" or "defendant"????

You are correct about the misdemeanor charge, however, crossing state lines with federally regulated communication (phone, mail etc) moves this to a FELONY charge, and if convicted on that charge the SUSPECT/DEFENDANT then becomes a FELON.

"one who has committed a felony"

the act makes you a felon, not the conviction. Just like someone who steals something is a thief, even if he gets away with it.

Its just semantics.

While committing the act is what causes a person to become a felon, being convicted of that act is what causes him to become a "convicted felon" and thus inelligible to be POTUS.