Home Run Derby

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The 2008 Presidential Primary elections are less than a month away. And everybody needs a guide to the candidates.

Before I get started, I want to say that Home Run Derby will not endorse a candidate for President of the United States. We are a shoddy little baseball website and will not pretend to be a political one.

With that in mind, we’re not above giving you the facts about some of the candidates … when it comes to their baseball allegiances.

First up … The Democrats.  The Republicans are over here.

Hillary Clinton – Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees

New York Senator Hillary Clinton grew up in Northwest suburban Chicago, which would justify her claims that she was a Cub fan as a youth (there are many pics of her wearing a Cub hat).

But in 1999, when there was talk of her as a candidate for New York Senator in the 2000 elections, Hillary claimed “I’ve always been a Yankee fan.” Her justification was that she needed an American League team to cheer for as well. And the Yankees were the best in the AL.

Mind you, she had never mentioned it before prepping for her Senate run.

Barack Obama – Chicago White Sox

Illinois Senator Barack Obama has been a South-Side Chicago resident for 20+ years and he’s an unabashed fan of the Pale Hose.

And to prove he’s a White Sox fan, he’s not afraid to throw some smack at the Chicago Cubs.

Senator Obama threw out the first pitch at Game Two of the 2005 ALCS in Chicago (shown above). He also went to the Victory Parade after the Sox won the World Series that same year.

UPDATE: Obama has also been endorsed by the usually neutral Ken Burns, who produced the documentray “Baseball.”.

John Edwards – Unknown

The former North Carolina Senator is a very adept politician … because there’s nothing written anywhere about Edwards’ baseball allegiances.

And he’ll never tell us. Do you really think that a guy with that incredibly coffed hairdo is going to say what his favorite baseball team is? There’s no chance.

Because if he did, some press hound would ask him to put on a cap for a photo op.

That hair doesn’t wear a cap. Ever.

Joe Biden – Philadelphia Phillies

Okay, that’s a bit of a hunch. But Biden’s Myspace page lists him as a member of the Phillies Phans.

Delware Senator Joe Biden has been very involved with Steroids and baseball … or at least making them illegal. He authored the 1990 law on steroid trafficking and also wrote a 2004 law which banned 18 more substances, including androstenedione.

To his discredit, he doesn’t know the strike zone very well. He thought it starts at the shoulders.

Dennis Kucinich – Cleveland Indians

The Ohio Congressman is a lifelong Indians fan. Seems to be a big baseball fan too, considering he introduced legislation in 2003 called the Baseball Fan Protection Act which tried to keep a majority of baseball games on free broadcast television.

During the 2007 ALCS, Kucinich campaigned in Red Sox-friendly New Hampshire while wearing an Indians hat. So he’s got stones.

But when he was the Mayor of Cleveland he got a “Standing Boo” when he threw out the first pitch at the Indians’ home opener in 1978.

No word on his stance about Chief Wahoo.

Christopher Dodd – Boston Red Sox

The Senator from Connecticut is a big ol’ Boston Red Sox fan.

He’s also a close personal friend of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.

But apparently, he doesn’t have as much pull with Selig as he might like. Because when Dodd tried to have a contest for supporters in which a random donor could sit with him at a Red Sox 2007 ALCS game … MLB made his campaign stop the contest.

Bill Richardson – Yankees and Red Sox

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson simply won’t get ANY votes in the Northeast.

Because you simply can’t have it both ways when it comes to rooting for the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Richardson had said he was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in 1966.
Oops – he wasn’t.

New Mexico Republicans had a field day with that revelation, as you can see by the baseball card they put together below.

The 2008 Republican candidates and their baseball credentials can be found right here.

SUPER TUESDAY UPDATE – CLICK HERE

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Cubs, Indians, Phillies, Politics, Red Sox, White Sox, Yankees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.