It's not often that the St. Paul Saints baseball team merits inclusion in a political blog, but in this election year, anything's possible.

The background: Each year, the Saints — whose motto is "Fun is Good" — select a new baby pig to be their ball pig; it's job is to carry baseballs out to the umpire during the games. The pig grows and grows throughout the year, and is, supposedly, retired to a life of leisure each fall. (And not brought back as part of the bacon cheeseburger promotion.) Then a new piglet is selected the next spring.

This year, being a wacky election year, the Saints let fans vote on the name for the new pig, with three choices: Hillary Rod-ham Clinton, John Muckain and Boarack Ohama (Boar-AHK O-HAH-muh).

The Star Tribune sponsored the vote and received nearly 1,000 tallies. And the winner: Boarack Ohama. The little guy was introduced to fans Wednesday at a downtown St. Paul rally. His handlers had no comment on the piglet's views on pork barrel politics.

The names of some of the previous pigs: Bud Squealig, Kevin Bacon, Hammy Davis Jr., Notorious P.I.G. (Piggy Smalls) and Ham Solo. — Joe Kimball