Yesterday on the campaign plane, Barack Obama’s traveling staff was busy filling out NCAA Final Four brackets for a staff pool - no press allowed, per one aide. Each staffer, and the senator, forked over $10 per bracket - the winner taking the undisclosed pot.

Today the campaign announced Mr. Obama’s picks - two of which are schools in states with upcoming primaries.

In the South division, Obama picked fourth-seeded Pittsburgh - Pennsylvania’s primary, of course being on April 22nd. In the East, the senator chose #1 ranked North Carolina, where he hopes to win the state’s primary on May 6th. His other two picks, in the Midwest, Kansas, and in the West, UCLA, were states that went for Obama and Clinton respectively in their contests, held last month.

Today on the campaign trail in West Virginia, Senator Obama headed to a sports bar to mingle with patrons/voters and to eat some chicken wings in front of cameras, of course. “I’m fishing for a few votes around here, you know,” he said to the bar full of mostly male basketball fans. “At least I can show off my basketball knowledge, you know - these are the things I like to do. Sometimes here in this bubble with the press corps around you, you don’t get to talk to people,” he said, cameras rolling.

When ribbed for not picking near-by West Virginia University (ranked #7), Obama joked, “Now that’d be playing politics.”

So who did Obama bet on in the finals? UCLA v. North Carolina. He’s hoping for a Tarheel win on April 7th, after winning in the Tarheel State on May 6th.

When Obama took the stage at a rally in El Dorado, Kansas, today, he told the cheering crowd to take a seat. “We’re among friends here. We’re family,” he said. Although Obama never lived there, his maternal grandparents did. Stanley and Madelyn Dunham were Kansas natives and his mother was born on a military base in the state - and he did mention that in his speech.

But it was still a surprise when Obama pointed out a 72-year-old woman in the crowd and introduced her (incorrectly) as his grandfather’s aunt. Actually, Margaret Wolf is Obama’s grandmother’s cousin and has now met Obama three times. Wolf didn’t tell the campaign that she was going make the hour and a half drive to hear her cousin, Barack Obama, but the senator spotted her and gave her a kiss on the cheek on his way to the podium.

The African American who was born in Hawaii, raised as a child in Indonesia, and schooled on the East Coast, was sure to include his heartland background to the 2,000 Kansans gathered - he, after all, is the candidate who says he can bridge divides. “Our family’s story is one that spans miles and generations; races and realities. It’s the story of farmers and soldiers; city workers and single moms. It takes place in small towns and good schools; in Kansas and Kenya; on the shores of Hawaii and the streets of Chicago. It’s a varied and unlikely journey, but one that’s held together by the same simple dream. And that is why it’s American,” he said to applause.

Obama also received the endorsment of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who touted Obama’s Midwestern values as a reason for her choice. “Barack Obama has Midwestern values, values that we know about, and he got them from his grandparents and his mom. He understands how to bring people together across party lines. He understands how to give people hope for the future. He understands the value of education, transformational value of education. He doesn’t just talk about it, he lives it, he thinks it, he breaths it. He will lead with those values,” she told the room.

Following the event a handful of reporters sought out Ms. Wolf in the crowd to ask her about her family - take a look at Obama recognizing her at the start of his Kansas event and her comments to reporters here:

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The Kansas caucus is on February 5th.