Dems Lose Congressional Baseball Game, Again

HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI strolled into RFK Stadium on Monday at 8:45 p.m., dressed in white and surrounded by well-wishers as her entourage headed for the majority party's seating area for the 46th annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game. The San Francisco Democrat was greeted by applause from her party faithful and boos from the Republican seating area. It's been a long time since a congressional Democrat was the top political celebrity at the annual baseball game. But last year's elections changed that.

What Pelosi didn't know at the time was that by the end of the third inning, a member of her caucus, Washington Rep. Adam Smith, at right, would blow the Democrats' chances to clinch a key win after years of losses to the Republicans.

Smith, who has represented the Tacoma, Wash., area since 1996, led the Democrats in errors and drew derision in the stands, especially when he slid into third base when walking there briskly would have sufficed. One can only wonder if Pelosi will penalize Smith for his poor athletic performance, maybe cutting him from his coveted Armed Services Committee slot or forcing him to resign from one of the nearly 30 Congressional interest caucuses and working groups he is a member of so he can use the time to practice for next year's game.

Despite the Democrats' strong showing at the polls in November, the brute force of the freshmen class — including former Washington Redskin and North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler — did not translate into a much-needed baseball win. The Republicans triumphed, 5-2. But the atmosphere was much different than in recent years, with Republican fans putting forward a less rambunctious face.

That is likely because Richard Pombo, pictured at left, was voted out of office last year. In previous years, the onetime chairman of the House Resources Committee had his "Pombo Posse" — a legion of interns, staffers and other fans of the California Republican — flood the stands, cheer for the GOP and show their pride with "Pombo Posse" signs and shirts. This year, no Pombo, no posse. Republican fans held simple signs supporting the GOP as a whole.

Democratic cheering was considerably stronger than in years past, despite the absence of female members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus dancing on top of the Democratic bullpen to rile up the crowd. (Rep. Grace Napolitano of the Los Angeles area, however, did climb up on the bullpen briefly to help start "Take Me Out to the Ballgame.")

Although presidential politics has already taken center stage in the realm of the pundits, it didn't seem to be a factor at this year's game. If there were operatives for the numerous members of Congress running for the White House in 2008, they did not make their presence known — except, of course, for the oddly positioned cardboard box in the stands directly behind home plate. It trumpeted Texas Rep. Ron Paul's bid for the presidency. Why a cardboard box? Why Ron Paul? Nobody knows.

See you next year.