"take the candle on this one" Is this a proper phrase?

Factual Questions
1

Hi
When Paul Ryan weighed in on the FBI’s decision not to indict Hillary Clinton,he said of the Clintons that “they take the candle on this one.”. (1 minute into the video) Is this a proper phrase?

Is this some variation of "take the cake"?

I look forward to your feedback.

2

I assume he’s conflated “they take the cake” with “no one can hold a candle to them” in regards to shady above the law type things.

3

Whenever I hear something off like this, I assume that folks in DC just like to attempt to coin new phrases, like “wee-wee’d up” a while back.

4

Googling the phrase “take the candle on” just results in a lot of references to the Paul Ryan remark, and some video game walkthroughs.

5

This very likely has a specific answer rather than being a debate.

Off to General Questions.

6

I take my trousers off to him for trying to avoid a cliché.

7

“You should never hold a candle if you don’t know where it’s been.” - Ian Dury :slight_smile:

8

I think it means she angered some Warcraft kobolds.