March Madness is upon us. The brackets are being filled. No, not NCAA basketball brackets. We're talking politics — the ultimate sport. This isn't about which group of tall young men can put a ball through a hoop most often. These battles are about taxes, regulation, law enforcement, health care, transportation, and even heavy-duty stuff like abortion, the death penalty, and war and peace.

Ironically, far more people will be paying attention to basketball over the next few weeks than to the political wars.

By end of day tomorrow, all 2008 political office seekers must fill out their tickets, inviting themselves to the Big Dance, by officially registering their candidacies. They will then feverishly prepare for the tournament's early rounds — neighborhood party caucuses on March 25, followed quickly by county and state conventions.

This flurry of excitement is raising several questions:

Are there any trends in the filings and announcements by candidates?

Webb: It's a new season, and Democratic enthusiasm, especially at the legislative level and particularly in Salt Lake and Utah counties, is a trend to watch. My prediction is that Democratic hopes will mostly be dashed against the realities of Republican domination, but excitement among Democrats is higher than I've seen for years.

Lots of people are filing for offices. A large number of incumbents are being challenged. Liberal groups like the UEA and PTA, feeling smug and smelling blood because they killed vouchers, are uniting with environmental organizations and human rights groups and putting big effort into organizing for caucuses.

The trend among Democrats outside of Salt Lake City is to recruit moderate, mainstream candidates, often those who have served in community and LDS Church leadership positions. (Inside Salt Lake City only Mormon-hating Democrats are allowed to run, by city ordinance.) In Utah County, BYU professors (or spouses) appear to be running en masse for the Legislature as Democrats. (And Curt Bramble can't even cut BYU's budget.) Too bad they're all going to lose.

Pignanelli: Infighting among Democrats is a frequent, brutal and disorganized affair usually described as a "firing squad in a circle." Infrequent contention within Republican ranks is an event of organized cannibalism-bloody but purposeful. Such is the current state of affairs for Utah's GOP in legislative circles. For months, a number of moderate Republicans have been threatening retaliation against lawmakers supportive of school vouchers in the 2007 legislative session. An unparalleled number of incumbent GOP lawmakers face an intraparty skirmish sponsored by public education activists (or as LaVarr castigates them: "liberal" Republican PTA parents). The wrangling between moderate and conservative Republicans has been a longtime dynamic, but one the Utah GOP has kept within control. This is a fascinating and historical development.