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She's a legend on the soccer field, but U.S. captain Julie Foudy means so much more away from the game, where her her work on behalf of women's sports and labor issues has made her presidential material.
The joke swirling around the U.S. women's team had to do with Julie Foudy's plans this fall - captain the Americans to their third World Cup championship - and, well, shouldn't she be setting her goals a little higher.
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"She should be running for governor of the state of California," proclaims
U.S. coach April Heinrichs. Ticketmaster
"Joy [Fawcett] has been joking that if we didn't have the Olympics next year, she'd make her run for governor," Shannon MacMillan proffers. "She'd have my vote."
"Ah, she couldn't beat Arnold Schwarzenegger," laughs Aly Wagner, Foudy's usual foe during the U.S. team's daily breakfast debates. "I don't know if I agree with her political views, so I don't know if I'd vote for her."
Truth be told, there are a lot of influential Americans out there - at least one former U.S. president among them - who'd love the chance to punch a chad for Foudy. The best jokes always are ringed in truth. But why settle for being governor of the union's most dysfunctional state when you could be living in the White House? Ticketmaster
No, seriously.
"She's as good as I've ever seen, as far as presidential material," says Donna Lopiano, the influential executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation. "President of the United States. That's how good she is."
"Julie is an amazing woman," says WUSA Commissioner (and former U.S. women's coach) Tony DiCicco, who sits with Foudy on the league's board of governors. "She's somebody, like, if she put her mind to it, could be just - I was going to say she could be president of the United States, but I didn't want to seem arrogant. But if she got into politics, she could be president."
Heinrichs wasn't entirely kidding about the governor's race, either. Ticketmaster
"I think it would be absolutely amazing if Julie got into politics," she says. "Because she has the intelligence, the charisma, the contacts, and the support of the people around her - and she also has the ability to be the advocate of the people."
It's not...