Back in the 1950s, when Dwight D. Eisenhower ran for and won the presidency twice, he had the advantage of having a nice rhyme-able nickname for his campaign slogan: “I Like Ike!” But there are also other recent rhyming campaign slogans that have been lost to history, such as: “I’m a Vixen for Nixon!”, “Ford Is my Lord!”, “I’m a Martyr for Carter!” (and “I’ll Barter for Carter!”), “I’m a Pagan for Reagan!”, “I’ll Push for Bush!”, “Badminton for Clinton!”, “We’re Still for Bill!”, “My Brain is Mush for George W. Bush!”, “I’m a Big Bad Mama for Barack Obama!”, etc. And as you can see, all of these slogans led to victory over their challengers, who didn’t have any great rhyming slogans. (I think there was maybe something like: “We’re for Dukakis, Please Don’t Cock-Block Us!” But that one didn’t lead him to victory.)
This is why I think Mitt Romney’s campaign has been lacking: he doesn’t have any great rhyming slogans for campaign buttons. I mean, all he’s got is stuff like: “I’m Slovenly for Romney!”, “Rominee Is my Nominee!”*, “Romney not the Communie!”, and “Mitt Happens.” And if Romney loses this election, then it will be clear that every presidential candidate will need a name that rhymes well for slogans to win! (But be careful, because sometimes they can go too extreme and backfire, losing the election for your campaign, like the infamous: “My Brain’s Insane for McCain!”, and: “I’ve Gone Insane for John McCain!” Those made his supporters seem unstable, and it swung the election away from McCain.)
BTW: Other forgotten presidential election slogans were: “I’m a Groover for Hoover!”, “We’re Ready for Teddy!”, “We’re at the Bar for FDR!”, “We’re a Garrison for Harrison!”, “Madams for Adams!”, “I’m Mad for Madison!”, “I Stoke for Polk!”, “We’re in Action for Jackson!”, “I’m Purrin’ for Van Buren!”, “We Push Still More for Millard Fillmore!”, “I’m a Cannon for Buchanan!”, “I Pant for Grant!”, “I Prays for Hayes!”, “I’m a Grover Lover!”, “I’m a Draft for Taft!”, “I Coo for Coolidge!”, “I’m a Mover for Hoover!”, “True Men for Truman!” And these slogans are what got them all elected, I think. So they really do matter after all!
* Idea pilfered from Greg Gutfeld.
