In the tank to

"The mainstream press was in the tank to Starr until the Starr report came out...."( TIME mag)

Bill Clinton said it; Joe Klein wrote it

Would some politically hip correspondent please explain

Incidentally, the expression also goes, "in the tank for..."

----Thanks guys

I think it's originally a boxing expression. To "go in the tank" is to take a dive or throw a fight. To be "in the tank to Starr" would mean that the press had not stood up to the special prosecutor as it should have.