Did we just pick Ryan Leaf over Peyton Manning?

Our choices for quarterback of the nation do bear a certain, albeit superficial resemblance to the choices facing the Colts and Bolts in the 1998 NFL draft: the party-hearty, loose-lipped guy with the botanical, four-letter last name versus the goody two-shoes, board-stiff wonk with Tennessee roots.

Don't get me wrong: I come to you as neither Democrat nor Republican, bearing no sour grapes. There's no real reason to think that Dubya will be as abdominal a choice as Leaf was; I trust in the wisdomness of the American electionate.

No, I'm probably fixated on the Leaf/Bush-Manning/Gore parallels because I just can't shake the sports imagery our politicians seem to strap onto their campaigns.

For the New York Senate seat, we had Doug Flutie scrambling for Hillary Rodham Clinton and Al Leiter pitching for Rick Lazio. ("I feel like the Mets," Lazio said in his concession speech, when what he really meant to say was, "I lost because I have all the personality of Mr. Met.") Out in Nebraska, Tom Osborne got 85% of the vote in his congressional district running on, what, the Wishbone ticket? In the closing weeks of the presidential campaign, Bush found it necessary to visit the Green Bay Packers' practice facility, while Gore dropped in on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Give us a break. Especially when it comes to showing us what "regular" guys and gals you are. Why, oh why do politicians insist on these photo ops in which they roll up their sleeves, take a snap, drop back and, as Dubya did with the Packers, throw a pass? "He throws like a girl," said Packers fullback Matt Snider. After the Vice President was shown tossing the old pigskin on Air Force Two, I asked The Magazine's football staff to break down the film. Three different people said, "He throws like a girl."

(Once and only once in my life have I been impressed by a candidate posing as an athlete. In a 1978 TV spot, New York City mayoral candidate Mario Cuomo rolled up his sleeves, grabbed a softball and took the mound. Yeah, he threw like a girl: Lisa Fernandez.)

If it was that important for our leaders to be jocks, Bill Bradley and Jack Kemp would have come a lot closer to the West Wing. Our politicians should stick to the basics of good government: wet-kissing their wives, mangling the mother tongue, palming soft money like a maitre d'.

Over the years, we've had a few legitimate athletes in the White House: Abe Lincoln wrestled, Gerald Ford was an All-America center at Michigan and Ronald Reagan played Grover Cleveland Alexander. There have been a number of golfers and swimmers and even a billiards player (Woodrow Wilson). Ike Eisenhower once got pancaked by Jim Thorpe in an Army football game, and Dubya's dad captained the Yale baseball team.

Then there was the granddaddy of them all, the Sammy Baugh of Presidents, the very first draft choice: George Washington. He once tossed a silver dollar across the Potomac.

I have it on good authority, though, that he threw like a girl.