Isn’t there the obvious solution to the GOP’s debate overcrowding problem: Brackets! It works for March Madness. It’s transparent. Break the field up into two or three sections. Assign candidates at random — no favoritism. Have each section go on for 90 minutes or so. Let the voters (and press) decide the winners in each division. If candidates want to take inter-bracket shots at each other, they can go ahead (and continue the sniping outside the event). … Seems better than the alternative of excluding people according to some arbitrary, rich-get-richer criteria. … What am I missing? [That the rich want to get richer-ed. Bucket. Almost all the GOP candidates are credible pols whom the big boys — and who’s that? — can deign to interact with.]

Backfill: Dan Schnur suggested this in a Caitlin Huey-Burns RCP piece a week ago. …