'As If', So long Yankee and Shea Stadiums...

Behind The News
New York-WABC, March 27, 2008 As if Hillary Clinton is going to just drop out of the race for President. There are Democrats with rather big names tonight who are suggesting that. Tonight Sen. Patrick Leahy from Vermont is one of them.

But anyone who has followed her career -- and the career of the former President who shares her name -- knows that, especially after all this time and money and sweat equity, Hillary Clinton isn't going to just fold her hand.

So it may make for some nice headlines and sound bites, but -- at least as of March 28 -- no way the junior Senator from New York is walking away from her chance to spend more time in the White House.

That said, it's hard to imagine how this battle between Clinton and Barack Obama is going to end on a positive note. There seems such bitterness, such animosity between the two; and the notion of their suddenly patching things up seems remote at best.

Of course in politics that sort of kiss-and-make-up stuff happens all the time. They slug it out, and then they embrace.

It drives some of their supporters nuts. Voters are whipped into some kind of frenzy and then they're told that they must now give up their loyalty and vote for the candidate they were told to despise last month.

No wonder so many people are cynical about politics.

Both candidates were full throttle on the campaign trail today, and we'll have the latest on the race, tonight at 11.

Big doings in Cuba tonight, although to much of the world it might not seem that huge. But for the first time, ordinary Cubans will be allowed to use cell phones. Until now, mobile phones have been luxury items -- and only those who worked for foreign companies or held key government posts could have them.

This is no small development in the tiny country And leading the way, apparently, is Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela, who is advocating a "more open" kind of socialism. She has, quite publicly, pushed for Cubans to be allowed to travel around the world, and be allowed to use any kind of electronic equipment.

Change is coming to Cuba, no question.

And two items to take to your dinner-table conversations over the weekend.

The first is a slight problem involving the Drug Enforcement Administration. Seems that in the past five years, the DEA has lost track of 91 weapons and 231 laptop computers.

A report today by the Justice Dept. Inspector General says that 69 of the weapons had been stolen -- 44 of them from agents' cars. In one case, an agent left his weapon at a supermarket.

As for the laptops -- some were left in taxis, others stolen from luggage.

Your tax dollars at work, folks.

And speaking of dollars, it's No Habla Recession for the Mets and Yankees.

Both teams -- playing their last seasons in their current stadiums - are on paces to set attendance records.

So far the Yankees have sold 3.8 million tickets -- that's more than 10% more than a year ago to date. And the Mets say they are on a pace to reach the 4 million attendance mark for the first time ever.

The teams open play next week, and Scott Clark tonight will have the latest from the last Friday of spring training.

We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Lee Goldberg's weekend AccuWeather forecast. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11, after 20/20.

BILL RITTER

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