White House Seeks Conservative to Replace Lance Armstrong

Moments after seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong announced that he was retiring from competitive cycling, the White House served notice that it intended to replace Mr. Armstrong with a cyclist who shares President Bush’s conservative political views.

While Mr. Armstrong has never officially identified himself as a Democrat, the fact that he was cheered on in his seventh Tour victory by 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) was not lost on President Bush, who immediately urged aides to find a conservative cyclist to replace him.

At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan assured reporters that there would be “no litmus test” to determine who Mr. Armstrong’s successor might be, but did indicate that “he or she will be someone with integrity, a strong sense of values, and a conservative interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.”

In Democratic circles, fears abounded over Mr. Bush’s choice, since Mr. Armstrong’s successor might very well shift U.S. cycling to the right for years to come.

“President Bush handpicking Lance Armstrong’s replacement is the worst-case scenario many of us have been dreading,” said Democratic activist Clarisse Hartnett. “We were really hoping Lance would hang in there until Bush was out of office.”

Read the rest here. I've little confidence in conservative strength in the cycling world. It's more likely that Bush will choose someone that's center-left, such as Charles Johnson.