Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and ... politics

The real national pastime, these days, is politics, specifically the presidential campaigns.

I'm not sure how I missed this report last month, but it's worthy of bringing up now: people affiliated with Major League Baseball have given presidential candidates over $267,000. And I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that the GOP has out-raised Democrats among the baseball community by a 59% to 41% margin.

Who's the biggest individual "winner?" This isn't surprising either:

[Rudy] Giuliani is the top recipient of baseball cash, scoring more than $78,000. The former New York mayor counts among his financial supporters Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and leaders of the Detroit Tigers, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels.

Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella alluded to Yankees-Red Sox history, saying the campaign felt good about its baseball support. "Not quite as good as (Yankees owner) Jake Ruppert felt when he bought Babe Ruth from the Red Sox for a mere $100,000" in 1919, Comella said. "But pretty good nonetheless."

Hillary Rodham Clinton tops Democrats with nearly $50,000, including checks from people tied to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins. Clinton spokesman Blake Zeff said the New York senator's haul shows even Bush's former colleagues "are clamoring for the change Hillary will bring."

Ken Kendrick, managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, said he doesn't expect anything for his donations to Arizona Sen. John McCain, Giuliani and Romney. "I hope to get a good leader for our country," he said.

Also supporting Giuliani is Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez; you also might recall Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling campaigning hard for Drunky McStagger immediately after the 2004 World Series.

I guess it's not really news that a bunch of sheltered, egocentric millionaires tend to favor Republicans ... after all, the sheltered, egocentric millionaire demographic really is the GOP's base.