There's a school of thought. The reason why there are so many more home runs being hit, why batting averages are high... it's because of " Expansion. " There are a lot more major league teams than there were when I was a kid. This means that there are a lot more pitchers tossing balls in the Bigs who would have been having trouble, back in the 60s, making a triple A team.

The talent doesn't have nearly as much talent these days.

Same can be said of political handlers. These days, " Expansion : is a word that can be used to describe the presidential politics game. Everybody and his brother and sister is running for president. Many of those running aren't qualified to run for mayor of Akron, Ohio.

And their handlers? Far from JFK's Best and the Brightest. If you think Dennis Kusinich is bad, what are we to make of his aides?

Evidence of this is as thick as the body armor John McCain wore in Baghdad the other day. McCain went on record last week as saying the streets of Baghdad were safe to walk around on. Then he flew over there. Was shown on TV news walking around in a market in Baghdad. Wearing body armor. Surrounded by 100 armed men. Three Blackhawk helicopters hovered above McCain's helmeted head.

Who told McCain to say that about walking the streets of Baghdad? Who let him go and prove himself wrong?

His minor league handlers.

And President Bush today with those comments about vacations? Who's responsible for that?

His handlers, that's who.

Too many candidates. Too much on W's plate. Too many handlers, who like pitchers these days, are giving up a lot of home runs.