Blotto, you’re right.
I don’t recall ever seeing it in print until now.
I should have said he was “in the bag”. I haven’t heard that one since NYPD Blue.
I would have never understood what you meant had you said "in the bag," which I associate with being a sure thing (because he was bought off or otherwise), or else with the classic Disney cartoon starring the hilarious and underrated Humphrey the Bear:
