"political freeroll"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

>From the political blog FiveThirtyEight:

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http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/pelosi-tips-scales.html
Opposing the bailout had been a political freeroll before because it wasn't
manifest to the public what the risks of a nay vote would be.
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This appears to be an extension from poker, where "freeroll" is used to
describe a position where a player is guaranteed at least a split pot, but
can also win the hand outright.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeroll_(poker)

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