Clinton Caught in Middle on Super Bowl

The eyes of Texas were on Pasadena Sunday--and on the White House solarium, where, in front of a big-screen TV, President Clinton sat comfortably--or maybe uncomfortably--between Texas Gov. Ann Richards and New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.

Chelsea Clinton sat at her father’s feet, cuddling her cat, Socks, who was making his first White House appearance after arriving from Little Rock on Sunday.

They watched the game’s start before a a state dinner honoring governors. Asked which team he preferred, Clinton said: “With them on either side of me, you think I’m going to answer that question?” He paused. “I have got enough tough decisions to make.”

Hours later, Clinton and Richards called Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Coach Jimmy Johnson.

Last year, Clinton said he was partial to the Cowboys because Jones and Johnson played football at the University of Arkansas.

Richards may have let Clinton’s allegiance out of the bag by using the first-person plural, telling Jones that she and Clinton had watched with Cuomo, “and let me tell you, we gave him the hardest time in the world. . . . We did not let our foot off his neck.”