> is basestring = basestring really necessary? Seems like you could ditch the else clause.

Looking at my repo history, I had originally broken the compatibility code in to a separate file where this would have been required for `compat.basestring` usage.  It simply looks like I didn't clean it when I changed my mind about the need for a `compat.py` file.

[I won't be updating my branch(or this PR) any further, as I no longer have a need for `cleancat`]