. . . would her bumper stickers have still read, “Hillary”?
And then how would she do the stickers, signs, posters, T-shirts, etc., once she had tapped a running mate? Would she use her first name and his last? Or both first names?
I don’t think we’ve ever had a major party presidential nominee campaign using his (or her) first name.
Just wonderin’.
Speaking of campaign signs, there was a guy here who ran for the school board. Somebody put up a big campaign sign, held up with 4×4’s, right underneath the sign at the local XYZ liquor store along a major roadway.
What’s more, it stayed there throughout the campaign. I don’t know if the Lakeland Ledger ever mentioned it and don’t know if this guy won or not.
Back when Hillary and her team were floating the idea of offering the #2 spot to Obama, I’m pretty sure it got reported as a potential “Hillary/Obama” ticket. Unconventional, yes, but not unworkable.
Interesting thought. With Hillary, it does make sense that she use her first name, as it is less ambiguous than her last; there are no other famous Hillarys in American politics, but there is, of course, another famous Clinton. Obama could also use his first name in lieu of his last, but I suppose he and his campaign have just kept tradition. Perhaps if Hillary had beaten him and she picked him to be her VP, it would have been a “Hillary/Barack” ticket, so as to avoid the inconsistency of a “Hillary/Obama” ticket.
John McCain, of course, has really no choice except to be “McCain.” How many guys named John are there in politics today? Tons. But perhaps if he had a rare but likeable first name and a generic last name, he and Sarah Palin ticket would be going with their first names. After all, Sarah Palin is apparently known by her first name more than her last in Alaska.
Names can have funny consequences in politics. For instance, Chet Edwards blamed John Edwards’ troubles as one of the reasons he couldn’t be considered for Sen. Obama’s running mate. Granted, he wasn’t going to be chosen anyway, but I suppose confusion with the more famous (now infamous) Edwards would have been a disqualifying factor in the VP selection process.
“John/Sarah ’08”
— or —
“Obama/Joe ’08”
I know which one I like…
Isn’t an Obama Joe a fruity drink in some Carribean resort? Or is is Obama Joe’s Crab Shack a restaurant that I am thinking of?
I think Hillary did it more to seperate herself from Bill, enough so that it was her own candidacy. Clinton is Bill’s brand and he has built it up, Hillary has often used her first name to signify that something is her’s alone. I think the best example would be the term Hillaryland that was termed for her offices and supporters and those working for her.
I don’t think there would be a change, it would be Hillary and so and so…hillary 08 and so on. We might see more things with her full name but I doubt it would be a big shift, Hillary was the brand name of her candidacy
“Ike” Eisenhower and “Teddy” Roosevelt come to mind.
Considering Joe Biden’s comments today about Hillary being at least as qualified as he is, maybe we’ll see an Obama/Hillary or Obama/Clinton ticket very soon.
Dan, you’re missing a larger point about Senator Clinton’s character and ego.
She wouldn’t have allowed another name on her bumper stickers or banners. It would have been Hillary 08 all the way through to Election Day no matter who she chose for veep nominee.
Unless the veep nominee got some signs made up on her own.
I liked Hillary’s fake “I had to dodge sniper fire in Tuzla” story better than Biden’s fake “My helicopter was forced down on the superhighway of terror” story.
MM, either that or “HILLARY 08” and then in contract fine print “and that other guy tagging along”.
While blogging in a Starbucks today, I saw a guy sporting a Obama-Biden sticker. The word, “Obama” stood out, “Biden” faded into the background.
Dan, I saw a similar tshirt on a protester out of xCel last week. It reminded me of the past two campaigns of Michigan’s own “celebrity” governor, JennyGranholm. She ran with a BigLabor goon-type pol named “Big”JohnCherry (no, not the way we think of big… it has to do with ample gut and asses) and his name wasn’t even on the official bumper stickers and logo… the state Democrat Party had to make some duo-named materials when it started to get noticed in the Detroit Freep… 15-16 weeks into the 1st campaign; then she did it again in the 2nd campaign.
It wasn’t that he was a rotten candidate –it was her ego trumped anything else. Like BarryO’ with HonestJoeBiden and probably Hillary.
Thank God we don’t have ego-centric pols in the GOP. (wink)