Cartoon Characters Who Ran for President, Part Eight

Now that the election is over, the fighting can stop, right?   Not a chance.  We here at the JoeFood Blog still have hopes that once the recounts are complete, one of our candidates may edge out the other two.  Here's my last entry in this series; the I Go Pogo campaign,

Part Eight:  I Go Pogo!

In the 1950's Pogo was fast becoming one of the most popular and controversial comic strips in the history of the medium.   For the uninitiated, Pogo is a quiet, unassuming possum, a denizen of the Okefenokee Swamp.  The swamp is inhabited by numerous other critters to numerous to list here, but just this piece of art below may give you an idea.  Walt Kelly, an ex-Disney animator, was the creator.

The comic strip did not start out as controversial, but as it went on the satire got heavier and and more pointed.    On May 1, 1953, Pogo hit the ceiling with the introduction of Simple J. Malarkey, a polecat with a marked resemblance to Senator Joseph McCarthy.  McCarthy was in the midst of his anti-communism crusade at the time that caused many people in the public eye to be blacklisted (see "McCarthyism").   This sequence of strips were censured by many newspapers but began Kelley's practice of bringing political figures into the swamp in animal form.   Eventually you would see Spiro Agnew (a hyena), Richard Nixon (a spider), Khrushchev (a pig), Fidel Castro (a goat), J. Edgar Hoover ( a bulldog), and Lyndon Johnson (a longhorn steer), appear in the swamp.

All of this made Pogo a favorite comic strip on the college campuses.  In 1952 the first "Pogo for President" campaign began in the strip.  Pogo himself was a very reluctant candidate, not even realizing that the swamp had designated him their candidate until weeks after the announcement.  The campaign slogan was I GO POGO, a parody of the I LIKE IKE slogan for the Eisenhower campaign.  The campaign took off, and across the country several colleges held I GO POGO rallies.   One rally at Harvard got completely out of hand; at the end of it all some 1000 students had rioted and 28 students were arrested.  Walt Kelly was a featured speaker at several colleges and helped spread the word about Pogo's campaign.

  

The swamp critters themselves ran Pogo's campaign while Pogo tried in vain to ignore their work.   One of the better slogans they devised was "Pogo's for President and I'm for vice!"

Polling was also a big part of the campaign:

Pogo was run again in 1956, this time with the backing of a great campaign song sung by Kelly himself and relesed on the album Songs of the Pogo.  One of the greatest political songs of all time - once you hear it you'll never forget the words.  You can give it a play below.  Fortunately for the reluctant candidate he did not win either election despite getting hundreds of write-in votes.

Campaign 2020: Cartoon Characters who Ran for President, parts 3 and 4

We're back, presenting more cartoon characters who ran  for president as an alternate to the current candidates.  This week we have a rodent and a duck.  America is certainly a land of opportunity...

Part Three:  Alvin for President!

Alvin, lead singer for the Chipmunks, ran for president in 1960, beating Kanye West to the punch by sixty years.  According to NEWSWEEK, when candidate John F. Kennedy heard that Alvin had entered the race, he commented, "I'm glad to know I have at least one worthy opponent."

Alvin started his campaign with a campaign song 'Alvin for President" released as a single by Liberty Records.  It was the last Chipmunk single to hit the Billboard top 100.  Alvin followed this up with a comic book and a performance of his campaign song on "The Alvin Show."   Despite Alvin's popularity he was no match for John F., who beat out Alvin, Nixon and Huckleberry Hound (see our previous post for details on Huck's campaign).

Take a listen to Alvin for President:

Part Four:  Daffy Duck for President!

In 1997, the Looney Tunes characters began appearing on US postage stamps.   Daffy Duck decided this would be the perfect year to run for president since, after all, he is already on a stamp.   Chuck Jones contributed to Daffy's campaign with the book "Daffy Duck for President," a children's book that explains the three branches of government. Unfortunately Daffy failed to realize that 1997 was not an election year, so it was all a wasted effort.

Seven years later, Daffy realized that 2004 is divisible by four and that this could be his year.   He produced a film based on his campaign book from 1997, Daffy Duck For President.   The film received minimal play time but must have done some good - He was elected senator.  George Bush took the presidency that year.  Take a look at "Daffy Duck for President."

BONUS:   Here's Alvin's campaign song as performed on The Alvin Show.   Not the best video, but included for archival purposes.

Campaign 2020 - Cartoon Characters who Ran for President - Part 1

 As Election Day gets closer and the country goes further into turmoil, I thought it might be time to consider some alternatives to the current crop of presidential candidates.  In fact, in the past we've had many cartoon characters run for president and it may be time to resurrect one of them as a presidential candidate.  They would be just as cartoony as the candidates we have now.  So, once a week we'll look back at the various campaigns - perhaps we'll find a likely candidate among them.

Part One:  The Hanna - Barbera Characters

In 1960, Huckleberry Hound took the plunge and through his hat in the ring.  Being one of the first big TV cartoon stars, you would think he'd use the new medium to promote his candidacy.   For some reason, he stuck with more old-fashioned campaigning.   His entire campaign consisted of a record album, a comic book and campaign buttons.   Kennedy learned to utilize television much more effectively and was able to win the presidency from both Huck and Nixon.

         

In 1964, Huckleberry Hound was pushed aside by TWO Hanna -Barbera characters who ran against each other (and Johnson and Goldwater) for the presidency.  Yogi Bear ran against Magilla Gorilla in a hard-hitting campaign that was covered in comic books, records, coloring books and even bubble gum machines.  Strangely, both candidates again eschewed television campaigns despite both having their own television shows at the time.  

Both used top-notch advisors to run their campaigns.   Yogi relied on previous candidate Huckleberry Hound, while Magilla brought in a Washington outsider, Top Cat.   Mirroring the politics of the time, their campaigns cumulated in a Space Race, with both candidates building rocket ships in a race to be the first to the moon.  Unfortunately, come election day they were both stranded on the moon, clearing the way for Johnson to declare victory.

          

     

For those who like something to rally about, here are the campaign songs for both candidates.  Definitely no "I Like Ike" type lyrics...

Another presidential option

Hmmm...   It looks like we have another presidential candidate who is not well-read on the US Constitution.  Check out the cartoon below: