By: Nicholas Sohr

If you haven’t read Steven Pearlstein’s column on the capital region’s Northrop Grumman arms race, stop daydreaming about your NCAA brackets and check it out now. It’s a really interesting look at a side of the process that hasn’t seen much light. (I meant to post something on this days ago but it got lost somewhere in the Internet tubes.)

There have been reports about a $25 million deal on the table from the district, potential locations in Maryland and Virginia and what landing the defense giant means for all three locations. The Washington Post’s Pearlstein, who says all three jurisdictions will match the highest offer, looks at what it all means for Northrop. (Hint: not much).

At $34 billion, Northrop had more revenue last year than Maryland will spend this year. And it’s operating profit is easily larger than the $2 billion deficit Gov. Martin O’Malley had to fill.

Luring Northrop to Montgomery or Prince George’s would be a nice feather in O’Malley’s cap come election time in November. The governor has made job creation his top priority this year and with the economy on everyone’s mind, Republican lawmakers have been quick to criticize him for being late to the table.

Of course, it could cut the other way for O’Malley. Dishing millions to a corporate giant could provide more ammunition to opponents who have decried what they perceive as a lack of fiscal discipline in Annapolis. Or fuel accusations of outright corporate welfare. It’s happened before.

For Pearlstein, what makes the subsidies all the more foolish is that he believes Northrop will land in Virginia.

He says a site in the Rockledge Office Park in Bethesda is too close to Northrop rival Lockheed Martin. Plus, it means a trip down I-270 every time a Northrop exec needs to meet the brass at the Pentagon.

About the new mixed-use development in Prince George’s he writes:

“What about National Harbor in Prince George’s County? Somehow I just can’t see the Northrop brass mixing it up with the tool-and-die salesmen from Peoria attending their annual convention at Gaylord’s.”

Ouch. I’m not sure who comes out worse, Maryland or Peoria.