U.S. Presidential Candidates Use Sports To Woo Voters

By Eric Green

Politicians sport the "common touch" with electorate

U.S. presidential candidates are using the time-honored practice of declaring their allegiance to American sports teams to show their affinity with regular people.

The most publicized examples of these displays are with New York Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City. Clinton and Giuliani are considered the front-runners for their respective political parties' presidential nominations in 2008.

The two presidential aspirants are seen wearing caps of baseball's New York Yankees, which political observers say is an attempt to boost their "bona fides" that they sport the "common touch."

New York Times sportswriter Murray Chass told USINFO that politicians "attach themselves to sports connections because sports are popular with much of the public."

Clinton's motivations drew skepticism in 2000, said Chass, when during her New York race for the U.S. Senate that year she wore a Yankees cap to demonstrate her allegiance to the home team.

Chass said that "everyone knew she [originally] was from Chicago and a fan" of the National League's Chicago Cubs, "but [Clinton] said the Yankees" of the American League was also "her team."

"Few people seemed to believe her," said Chass.

Clinton said she is indeed a fan of the Cubs. But as a young girl, she needed an American League team to root for, so "I became very interested and enamored of the Yankees."

Meanwhile, Giuliani, a longtime Yankees fan, is seen at almost every playoff and World Series game that the team has played since 1995. Giuliani is described as "Yankee Fan Number One."

Chass said the late John Lindsay's campaign to win a second term as mayor of New York in 1969 received a boost from being in the clubhouse of the New York Mets after the team won that year's World Series in October. Chass said that following the Mets' victory, Mets players poured champagne on each other and on Lindsay.

That raucous scene on TV made Lindsay, who came from an elite background, seem like a "regular guy and part of the Mets success," said Chass. He added that the TV pictures "translated into votes" that helped Lindsay win re-election in November 1969.

COMMENTS OF DAVID BRODER

Washington Post syndicated political columnist David Broder told USINFO that Clinton and Giuliani "show up at ballparks and risk being booed." Broder said "it's always a risk for politicians" to attend a game "because you never know how fans are going to react" to what may seem a transparent attempt to score points with voters.

Broder said he does not believe wearing Yankee baseball caps will help either Clinton or Giuliani in their presidential bids.

"Hillary is not particularly New York, but Giuliani is very New York" and "I've been surprised that he has done as well as he has" in U.S. Midwestern states, said Broder in referring to differences in the cultural mindset of the two regions.

Broder said facetiously that the fact both candidates persist in wearing the Yankee caps "shows that they are people of principle."

Broder said President Bush, a former owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, is a "real baseball fan." Broder said that when he visited Bush's ranch in Texas, "the first thing he showed me is his display case of 30 or more autographed baseballs that he had collected over the years."

However, Bush's ownership of the Rangers did not particularly help his presidential candidacies in 2000 and 2004, said Broder. Bush used to joke about the "terrible trades" of players he made as the Rangers' owner, "but I don't think he bragged much" about being a baseball owner, Broder said.

He added that the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan was also a "real sports fan." For example, Broder said Reagan hosted a 1981 White House reception for old-time baseball all-stars.

Reagan was a former radio sports announcer, who in the 1930s recreated games of the Chicago Cubs for station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. From the WHO studios, Reagan would provide "play by play" to his radio audience of the Cubs games based on several words he took from teletype reports of the action. Reagan later used those same broadcast skills when he ran for president, earning the encomium of "The Great Communicator" for his ability to inspire voters.

Broder said ex-professional sports figures commonly use their athletic background to boost their political careers, such as former New York Representative Jack Kemp, who previously was a star quarterback for professional football's Buffalo Bills.

Other athletes who have gone on to political careers include former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley, a star for professional basketball's New York Knicks; Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning, now a U.S. senator from Kentucky; and Jesse "the Body" Ventura, who served as governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003 following a career in professional wrestling.

For related stories, see Sports and U.S. Elections.

Source: U.S. Department of State

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com