On Saturday night in Crown Point, Ind., Hillary Clinton visited a place called Bronko's Restaurant, where she associated with the locals and drank a beer for the cameras. Then the bartender asked, "You want a shot with that, Hillary?" Probably not wanting to disappoint the cheering crowd, the Democratic presidential candidate agreed and decided on a shot of Crown Royal Canadian whiskey.

The video clip of the relatively trivial, but still interesting, campaign moment shows a boisterous crowd and several other patrons eager to raise their glass with a potential future president. Clinton deliberates over what type of shot to drink, and manages to sound pretty cool when she refuses to drink anything sweet and insists on something more like rum or whiskey.

Then the footage shows one of the weakest attempts at taking a shot that I've ever seen. While the others pound their whiskey like champs, Hillary takes a pathetic little sip and stops, along with the video clip, which ends right after a close up of the nearly untouched shot in Clinton's hand. Perhaps Hillary Clinton really does like whiskey. Maybe she likes it so much that she prefers to savor the flavor by sipping it slowly. If that's the case, though, why didn't she drink it on the rocks? I'm guessing she was afraid that downing a few ounces of 80-proof booze too quickly might backfire. A video of Clinton vomiting all over her pantsuit would be a big hit on YouTube for months.

I saw the story on CNN on Sunday morning, and it made me reflect. It seems like both candidates in the narrowing race for the Democratic nomination have been going out of their way to seem like regular people. Recall that just a few weeks ago, Obama was in our neck of the woods, bowling poorly and drinking beer at a sports bar in Altoona. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that he chose to drink beer in Altoona rather than with a mob of Penn State students here in State College, but that was probably a conscious public relations decision.

Curious to see if anyone considers "most fun to drink with" an important attribute in the people they vote for, I searched the Internet and found an interesting poll. Sponsored by the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA), the Web site, www.whodoyouwanttohaveabeerwith.com, asks visitors to weigh in on which candidate they would most like to drink a beer with.

Barack Obama is currently winning by a landslide with 46 percent of the vote, whereas Hillary is in a distant fourth place with 11 percent, after John McCain who has 22 percent and Ron Paul, with 17 percent.

I would assume that intelligent voters care more about policy specifics, leadership capabilities and other important things, but I don't think likeability should be sold short.

In a story about the NBWA poll, Craig Purser, president of the beer wholesalers lobby, told the Washington Post that these numbers might help to forecast the result of the 2008 presidential election.

"With all the rigors of a campaign -- attack ads, phone calls, direct mail -- Americans know sometimes it just comes down to who you want to have a beer with. We hope this campaign reminds voters that at the end of the day, while issues are very important, so is conversation, civility and character," Purser said. "Having a beer with someone represents getting to know someone better, and that's what the campaign season is all about -- getting to know these candidates better."

It's a neat observation, and it'll be cool to see if the election reflects the beer poll, but I would like to see some more offbeat polling data. "Which candidate do you think could drink you under the table?" and "Which candidate would be most likely brandish a broken beer bottle in a bar fight?" are a few that come to mind.