Barack's no bowler

Barack Obama showed last week in Altoona, Pa., that bowling isn't his sport. I don't know what is, but it certainly isn't bowling.

The Democratic presidential candidate showed his "skill" at a campaign stop at the Pleasant Valley Lanes on Saturday, shown in the Associated Press photo at right.

You don't even need to be much of an athlete to be able to bowl. Case in point -- me. My high score is 220. I used to average about 160 and that was by only bowling a few times a year.

Even little kids manage to roll the ball down the center of the lane. But as a liberal Democrat, I guess every ball Obama rolled went left -- and into the gutter. His score -- an embarassing 37. And that was just over 7 frames. I'm a lefty like Obama, but I'd be able to double that score using my right hand.

Perhaps Barack should have tried the Fred "Twinkletoes" Flintstone approach.

Sen. Bob Casey, who was campaigning with Obama, didn't fare much better, as he lit up the scoreboard with a whopping 71 pins.

Taking note of Obama's bowling "skills," Democratic opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton showed a rare sense of humor and, according to the Associated Press, offered a challenge to Obama on Tuesday:

"This has been a very hard fought race," she said. "We clearly need to do something so that our party and our people can make the right decision. So, I have a proposal."
The tension grew. Reporters shifted in their seats. Was she dropping out of the race? Offering to join rival Barack Obama as his running mate?
April Fools!
"Today, I am challenging Senator Obama to a bowl-off," Clinton said, provoking relieved laughs from the assembled scribes.
Clinton carried on, making reference to Obama's
disastrous outing at a Pennsylvania bowling alley Saturday.
"A bowling night. Right here in Pennsylvania. The winner take all," she went on. "I'll even spot him two frames.
"It is time for his campaign to get out of the gutter and allow all the pins to be counted. I'm prepared to play this game all the way to the tenth
frame. When this game is over, the American people will know that when that phone rings at 3 a.m., they'll have a president ready to bowl on day one.
"Let's strike a deal and go bowling for delegates. We don't have a moment to spare, because it's already April Fool's Day. Happy April Fool's Day."

Maybe Hillary learned to bowl while ducking sniper fire in Bosnia.