BY STEVEN ALLEN ADAMS, West Virginia Watchdog

March Madness is upon us and No. 6 ranked West Virginia University will face unranked Morgan State University this Friday at 12:15 p.m. But WVU has already beaten MSU in another category: lobbying.

WVU spent $210,000 in lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. last year, compared to the $110,000 spent by MSU. This is according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Using the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship bracket, the center compiled how much each March Madness school paid out in lobbying. If the winner of the national championship depended on the amount of their lobbying, Texas A&M University would be the winner, having spent $900,000 in lobbying.

Schools competing in the tournament spent more than $12 million on federal lobbying efforts last year, pursuing such issues as research funding, financial aid and infrastructure improvements.

In all, education-related entities spent nearly $100 million last year on federal lobbying, with higher education accounting for most of that total.

Most schools in the NCAA tournament lobbied individually in 2009, although some, such as University of Texas and University of California schools, lobbied collectively through the school system. (For these schools, totals are calculated by by dividing the system’s overall lobbying figure by the number of member schools.)

OpenSecrets | K Street College Classic: Basketball’s March Madness Gets Political – Capital Eye

Check out The K Street College Classic bracket below (click the picture for larger size):

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