"What Pertschuk is accused of is being too ardent a consumer advocate, of 'lobbying' members of the committee on behalf of things he thinks are good, of putting his own philosophical 'spin' on options, of having excessive influence on Magnuson; in short of acting like the '101st senator.'"
—Spencer Rich, "An Invisible Network of Hill Power," The Washington Post, March 20, 1977
This stalwart member of the political lexicon probably came from phrases such as "putting a positive (or negative) spin on" something. In turn, this notion of influencing direction almost certainly came from sports such as baseball and billiards where players impart spin on a ball to change its course.
