Can Dogs Help Sell a Presidential Candidate?

By SAM URETSKY

The 2020 election has the chance of being the greatest match-up of retail politicians in history. On one side there’s Donald John Trump, who has turned Twitter into a personal link between himself and his loyalists. Every day, the loyal followers of President Trump get personal messages, direct from the leader. Granted, the technique was originated in 1934 when members of Little Orphan Annie’s Secret Society could hear messages over the radio and decode them on their decoder pins, but President Trump has brought the technique into the 21st century. According to CNN, President Trump has 32.4 million followers, although some may not be supporters.

On the other side, we have Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose bonding technique is the selfie line. There have been many descriptions of the selfie line, mostly about how long it is (after her speech in New York, the wait for a picture was up to four hours, but Sen. Warren said, “Yeah, I was there in the selfie line four hours … but I’ll tell you what: so was the last guy in line.”) Unlike a tweet, which is one sided, a selfie requires a real investment by the candidate as well as the supporter, and, if she wins the election, the picture can be printed out and become a family heirloom.

But, beyond the selfie line, Sen. Warren has a second resource, Bailey, her golden retriever puppy. Politico notes that the dog helps to humanize her, and reports “The Warren campaign’s most viewed Instagram video … is not of Warren talking to crowds in Iowa or South Carolina. It’s a simple sequence of her coming home and Bailey racing to the door to greet her.” Her website offers the usual t-shirts, tote bags and buttons, but also a dog kerchief with “Bailey for first dog” and collars that says “Bailey’s running mate.” They have collars for cats as well.

Pete Buttigieg has two dogs, a puggle (Buddy) and a beagle/lab (Truman). A puggle is a designer dog, a cross between a pug and a beagle, noted for their cute appearance and friendly personality. The beagle/lab mix, also known as a Beagador, is about the size of a Lab, with a head resembling a beagle. Both are shelter dogs – which can be important in politics, since it adds to the humanization of the candidate. While Buddy and Truman have not been as visible as Bailey, and they are only represented by a campaign button in the Butigieg store, and that button is available only as one of a set of three, their Twitter feed has 65,000 followers, more followers than Bailey’s 3,817 or Beto O’Rourke’s Artemis, who has 3,700 followers. Their Twitter entries manage to avoid politics, spelling and grammar, but can be charming: “can i pleese have a complamint? feelin blu” and “I just took dna tests turns out im 100% chimken and penut buter.” It’s never clear which of them is doing the writing.

Beto O’Rourke, now a former candidate, has two dogs, Labrador retrievers Artemis and Rosie, along with a cat named Silver, and a turtle named Baby Gus, that went missing last spring. Initially, Artemis was suspected of being in some way associated with the disappearance, but Baby Gus was later found in a closet. The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative web site, raised the question of a cover up (was the turtle found in the closet really Baby Gus?), and whether a man who can’t be entrusted with a turtle can take care of the entire nation. None of the pets have a social media account, and none are represented in the on-line store, unless the t-shirts and totes that say “Beto for America” and “Beto for everyone” are meant to show inclusivity.

The Biden family has two German Shepherds, the elderly Champ and the new adoptee, Major. NBC News reported, “”Major was 1 of 6 puppies who were brought to DHA after coming in contact with something toxic in their home. Their original owner was unable to afford veterinary care so they surrendered them,” the group wrote on its Facebook page. “Joe Biden caught wind of them and reached out immediately. The rest is history!” Vice-President Biden used to give small stuffed toys, modeled after Champ, to children, but now, aside from one appearance on “CBS This Morning”, neither dog has had a role in the campaign. Notably, Vice-President Biden’s store has a t-shirt celebrating his aviator-style glasses, but there is no mention of either Champ or Major.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York dropped out of the race, and took her Labradoodle, Maple, with her. Labradoodles are designer dogs, a cross between a Labrador and a poodle. According to one web site, “They were created in Australia in the late 1980s to combine the outgoing, happy personality of a Lab and the non-shedding coat of a Poodle.”

John Hickenlooper, former governor of Colorado, who also dropped out of the race for the nomination, has a Akita-bulldog-Chow Chow mix named Skye, as in the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Skye spent time in the governor’s mansions but has retired from politics. Other candidates and drop-outs may have dogs, but it seems to be more difficult to quality for getting attention for your dog than to qualify for the DNC Debates. As for the current incumbent, Donald Trump, he does not have a dog, although Snopes.com was unable to confirm reports that the President hates dogs. He claims to be too busy ....

Sam Uretsky is a writer and pharmacist living in Louisville, Ky. Email sdu01@outlook.com.

From The Progressive Populist, December 1, 2019

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