When the batter's box meets the ballot box
By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers
* Posted on Sunday, October 7, 2007
For tens of millions of normal Americans, the start of the baseball playoffs in the crisp autumn air is a joyous time to cheer for their favorite team.
Not for some politicians, however.
For a calculating politician, the various matchups offer not a chance to root, root, root for the home team, but a minefield of conflicting constituencies, an ominous time when choosing the wrong side might offend someone on the other side.
Consider poor Hillary Clinton.
Reared in a northwestern suburb of Chicago, she grew up a Cubs fan.
But when she moved to New York to run for the Senate, she revealed she'd always rooted for the Yankees as her favorite in the other league.
That was easy enough. Until now. The Cubs are in the National League playoffs and the Yankees are in the American League playoffs. There's a chance they could face each other in the World Series.
What, oh what, would Clinton do?
"I'd be really in trouble," she said with a laugh when asked about just such a doomsday scenario during a recent presidential debate. "I would probably have to alternate sides."
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