Forget His Résumé. What's His Regimen?

It wasn't always this way. Bill Clinton -- a cheesy marching band geek if ever there was one -- was a two-term president who succeeded despite surrounding himself with the kind of dweebs who used to shut down the school library every night. Look whom he named to the high court: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Their dissenting opinions might offer brilliant ruminations on stare decisis , but physically speaking, neither will ever be confused with Arnold Schwarzenegger. (If justices get lockers, I'd be surprised if Breyer's hasn't been filled with shaving cream at least once.)

Neither would anyone on the Clinton bench. Robert Rubin: geek. Warren Christopher: geek. James Carville: pointy-headed alien-looking geek.

Of course, Bush himself has placed a few token non-jocks in his administration. But most didn't last long. I can't say for sure what Lawrence Lindsey's body mass index was, but I'm pretty sure it was many times the economic growth rate when Bush fired him in 2002. It is hard to say which statistic cost him his job. According to The Washington Post, "Bush blamed Lindsey for many of the administration's economic missteps . . . and even complained privately about his failure to exercise physically, aides said."

Lose a couple million jobs to China: No problem. Shirk your time on the treadmill: Time to fax that résumé to the Heritage Foundation.

(Granted, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney wouldn't win many fights on the playground. But every jock needs one or two geeks to do his homework.)

The really sad part about all this is that Bush, despite his vaunted three-mile run times, isn't such an exceptional athlete. His dad was a Yale pitching ace, butthe son couldn't even make the team. What the younger Bush does excel at -- besides running fast, both during workouts and campaigns -- is jock behavior: Acting tough, hanging out with cheerleaders and wearing cool letter jackets. (Bet you can't think of a commander in chief who's commissioned more windbreakers bearing the presidential seal.)

Could all of this have something to do with the Democrats' current losing streak? Absolutely.

The American people seem to regard the jocks with awe, just like when they were in high school. But who do the Democrats put out to respond to the latest GOP proposal? Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi. I'm sure the duo's collective cholesterol level is just fine. But jocks they are not.

Who is the one Democrat getting any traction these days? Sen. Harry Reid -- a former boxer.

What the Democrats need to get back in the winners' circle isn't another Brookings Institution seminar. They need a politician who doesn't throw like a girl (sorry, Mom).

So here's my suggestion (and it has nothing to do with abortion or Social Security): Pick Indiana's Evan Bayh to run for President. He's from a red state, and he's got good hair and a cute family. But he's got something the American people may soon rally around even more: a jump shot.

Author's e-mail :

geoffreyearle@hotmail.com

Geoff Earle, a geek who co-captained his high school cross- country team, covers the Senate for The Hill newspaper.