monday, november 3, 1980
lincoln, nebraska vol. 105, no. 51
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Baseball theory shows Democrats to win election
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By Kathy Harmon
Scratch the Reagan-Carter debate and cancel their
political advertisements. The outcome of the election is ;
already decided and has been since October, according to
one UNL professor.
"In an election year, if the National League wins the
October World Scries, and this year they did, then the
Democratic Party will win the nation election," said
Keith Mueller.
Mueller, an assistant political science professor, has
been teaching a five-week class on the presidential election.
The class ends Tuesday, election day, with 48 percent
of the students attending class predicting Reagan the win
ner. Forty-four percent of the class members say Carter
will win, according to a poll taken in the class last
Thursday. Undecided votes accounted for about 8 percent
of the class.
The baseball theory is based on the idea that teams
seem representative of certain social classes and thus
political parties, Mueller said.
Seventy-two percent of the class believes the theory
may be as valid as any other way of predicting the out
come of the election, according to the poll.
Mueller said National League teams come from the
heritage of the old Brooklyn Dodgers the inner city
team. He said this is in line with the Democratic Party
ideals.
"They typify the Democratic attitude about politics
in general," the professor said.
He said the American League, is the league most often
associated with the Republican Party, and also Mickey
Mantle, the New York Yankess and Yankee Stadium.
Mueller came across the baseball theory in a New York
Times article, which was written in 1976 by Norman
Siegel. Sicgel got the theory from another journalist,
Jon Margolis of the Chicago Tribune.
Mueller said the theory has been valid through 67
percent of the time since 1903 and 100 percent since
1952. In other words, out of 18 elections, the poli
tical party was consistent with the winning baseball team
12 times, he said.
Mueller said he has not been able to find a direct link
between the two, but he said he thinks the baseball theory
Concerned with soil loss
is as good as any of picking a presidential winner, especial
ly because it is statistically sound.
The professor did suggest, however, that a voter's
team winning the World Series may cause activist behavior
that carries over into the election.
Mueller said people usually laugh when he tells them
the theory.
To sum up one student's thoughts about the theory,
"It just shows you can manipulate anything to indicate
something."
UNL hmior runs for district direction ofNRD
By Pat Carraher
A UNL junior has decided to run for the district
director position of the Natural Resources District.
Jay Langenberg, a business administration major,
said that he lias become very concerned with some
problems dealing with the loss of some of our natural
resources, namely, our soil.
"One problem we have," Langenberg said, "is that we
have backwash, that is, fertilizer and things like that,
which is running off fields and is running into the water
that we use for drinking water. These things have been
proven harmful to children when they drink the water."
There are a number of other problems that Langenberg
said he would try to correct if elected in the non-partisan
election.
Langenberg said that irrigation is lowering the water
tables too much, and that no one has the power to do
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Photo by Marie BiiiingsJey
Fuel-related engine problems led to the Saturday night collision of an airplane and a van on VS. Highway
34 northwest of Lincoln. The Lancaster County Sheriffs office reported no injuries.
anything about it. He said that he would work to give
the NRD more control over the ground water tables.
"No one really has any control now," he said.
Langenberg said the NRD should be allowed to be
more active in ground water management.
Langenberg said another problem was leakage by gas
and oil pipelines. If he is elected to the four-year- term
of district director, he said he would advocate responsible
allocation of money to useful projects that would correct
problems like this.
"Another problem is soil erosion," Langenberg said."
There's a lot of land being used up." He said if farmers
were told of how to make better use of the land, they
would be willing to do it.
"All we have to do is to get the information to them,"
he said. "We could do this by putting out the information
through the extension services, and making it easy for the
farmers to get hold of it."
According to Langenberg, many of the problems which
is interested in deal with irrigation, and most of the ir
rigation is located in the western part of the state.
However, Langenberg said that what is needed now is
a sincere effort all over the state in order to correct the
problems.
Langenberg said that he is running for the director
position of the Lower Platte South, Subdistrict 5. He
said he believes he will defeat his opponent, and also
mentioned that it is possible he may run again in 1984.
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monday
Pop top fizzle: Student demonstration to protest the
alcohol policy on campus falls short of its goal . . Page 7
Tiger by the tail: A Memorial Stadium jinx ends as the
Huskers roll over Missouri, 38-16 Page 10
Night on east campus: Cowboys, dance hall girls, Abbott
aid Costello, and musical groups highlight
Eastfest Page 12