diff --git a/gearman/connection_manager.py b/gearman/connection_manager.py
index f3be48d..ccdf6f6 100644
--- a/gearman/connection_manager.py
+++ b/gearman/connection_manager.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ def __init__(self, host_list=None):
         host_list = host_list or []
         for element in host_list:
             # old style host:port pair
-            if isinstance(element, str):
+            if isinstance(element, basestring):
                 self.add_connection(element)
             elif isinstance(element, dict):
                 if not all (k in element for k in ('host', 'port', 'keyfile', 'certfile', 'ca_certs')):