But in a city where politics course through the veins of the inhabitants, where Republicans run the show and the man in the White House is himself a former baseball team owner, it was probably too much to expect the Washington Nationals to usher in a bipartisan era of peace, love and understanding.

Sure, James Carville, the Democratic political consultant, can be spotted at games sitting in the same row as Andrew H. Card Jr., President Bush's chief of staff. But now that George Soros, the financier and philanthropist who spent millions of dollars trying to defeat Mr. Bush last year, is competing for ownership of the team against bidders who include Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state, and Peter Fitzgerald, a former Republican senator, the mood on Capitol Hill isn't exactly Mom and apple pie.

Some Republicans went so far as to suggest that Major League Baseball, which owns the team, could lose its antitrust exemption if it permits Mr. Soros, who would be a part-owner with a group of investors headed by a local entrepreneur, to buy it - a threat that drew immediate ridicule in the sports pages and outrage from Democrats.

By Wednesday, one Republican, Representative Tom Davis of Virginia, backed away from that suggestion, saying he never intended any threat. But Mr. Davis and other Republicans did not back down from their criticism of Mr. Soros, who, they took pains to note, has been convicted of insider trading in France - a ruling he is appealing - and has supported ballot initiatives to legalize medical marijuana.

"We finally got a winning team," Representative Davis said. "Now they're going to hand it over to a convicted felon who wants to legalize drugs and who lives in New York and spent $5 million trying to defeat the president? How's he going to get him out to the opening game?"

Aides to Mr. Soros said he would have no comment. And while some Democrats said privately that including him was foolish, the leader of the group making the bid, Jonathan Ledecky, said his intent was to persuade Mr. Soros to spread his largess in Washington's poorer areas.

"I thought, 'He'll be a minority owner of the team, he'll have some connectivity to the city and he'll give his money away,' " Mr. Ledecky said. "Not once did any political agenda come up."

At the same time, it was not lost on Democrats that another group of bidders - the one that includes General Powell - is led by a major Republican donor, Fred Malek, a former aide to President Richard M. Nixon who runs Thayer Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm.

"This is K Street run amok," complained Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, referring to the Republican "K Street Project," an effort to encourage businesses and trade associations to hire Republican lobbyists. "The message they're sending to baseball here is no different than the message they send to corporations: unless you play ball with us and our people, forget access to the halls of our democracy."

As if the feud over ownership is not enough, the Nationals appear to have created a sartorial quandary for some. Certain Democrats, it seems, feel queasy about wearing the team's signature "W" caps, which evoke a certain former part-owner of the Texas Rangers.

Not to mention that the caps the team wears at home games are red - as in red state...

Some Washingtonians say the infighting was inevitable once the national pastime returned. This is, after all, a city where money and politics go, as baseball fans might say, hand in glove.

"Every business decision in Washington involves politics, and this is another one," said Joel Johnson, a Democratic lobbyist who represents the baseball players' union and, like plenty of other lobbyists in town, holds Nationals season tickets. "So in a town that is driven by money and politics, it shouldn't be a surprise that money and politics are central to the argument over the ownership of the new baseball team."

But money and politics are also central to the team's success. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, with its aging skyboxes, has suddenly become the hottest spot in town to hold campaign fund-raisers. This week, with the Pittsburgh Pirates visiting, three Pennsylvanian Republicans, including Senator Rick Santorum, held events at Nationals games.

"It's a very hot thing to do in Washington right now," said Mike Gula, a consultant who organized a fund-raiser Tuesday night for another of those Pennsylvania Republicans, Representative Tim Murphy. "Everybody wants to see the Nationals."

But what if Mr. Soros were to become an owner of the team? Would Republicans still take their business there? Senator Santorum put that question to rest.

"Oh," he said, pausing to think for a minute before replying, "I'd have a fund-raiser if I could raise money. I don't care who owns the team."

That seemed to be the prevailing sentiment among his Senate colleagues, some of whom sounded mystified by the dispute in the House.

"Marge Schott owned a team," said Senator Herb Kohl, the Wisconsin Democrat, recalling the former Cincinnati Reds owner, who collected Nazi memorabilia and was ultimately suspended from baseball for making racial slurs.

Mr. Kohl, who owns the Milwaukee Bucks, seemed just a bit smug as he said that the National Basketball Association had liberal owners and conservative owners, with nary a raised eyebrow from politicians. "On its face," he said, "it's absurd."

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, Jun 30, 2005