Campaigning on four legs: pets play presidential politics

By Katharina Motyl Jul 11, 2007, 0:55 GMT

Washington - Harry S Truman once offered biting advice that, so far, all of his successors as president have gladly followed: 'If you want a friend in Washington, you should buy a dog.'

But four-legged friends in the White House are far more than just dependable friends in the lonesome business of politics - they guarantee voters' sympathies.

Americans are crazy about pets, with at least one living in almost two-thirds of US households. Not surprisingly, most of the more than 20 hopefuls for the presidential elections in 2008 are already pet owners. Two of those heretofore petless recently proclaimed they want to go to the dogs too.

So chances are good that barks will continue to echo through the halls of the White House after incumbent George W Bush leaves office. The candidates, just like the American people, prefer dogs as their animal companions.

Democratic top candidates Hillary Clinton and John Edwards both have a dog, as does one of the Republican front-runners, John McCain. If election victory was solely dependent on the pet factor, the Arizona senator would have excellent chances at a landslide victory: a cat, two turtles, a ferret, three parakeets and 13 saltwater fish inhabit the 70 year old's house along with his two dogs.

Democratic hopeful Barack Obama, likewise among the top candidates according to polls, does not belong among the circle of pet owners. But he has promised to buy his little daughters a puppy should he conquer the White House.

Democrat Chris Dodd is also longing for a cold snout. While the senator from Connecticut has been petless so far due to family members? allergies, he is now looking for a dog breed that will not cause his loved ones to sneeze.

That makes New York's ex-mayor Rudy Giuliani and Republican Representative Tom Tancredo the only hopefuls that neither have a pet nor any intention of getting one.

Not a good prerequisite for winning the White House: From first president George Washington to his namesake George W Bush, US presidents have traditionally been pet lovers, as the Presidential Pet Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, documents.

Its collection ranges from a paw autograph of Ronald Reagan?s dog Lucky and the bell of William Howard Taft?s cow Pauline Wayne, to a life-size bronze statue of Barney, one of the current president?s dogs.

Museum founder Claire McLean, 73, knows the stories of the 400 pets that have lived in the White House like no one else. Ever since 1985, when the dog groomer was summoned to the White House to clip the hair of Reagan?s dog Lucky, she has been collecting memorabilia of the first pets. In 1998, she decided to display her collection publicly.

'I opened the museum to document our presidents? fondness of animals, hoping that people will follow the presidents? example and treat their pets well,' says McLean, who named her two cats after Gerald Ford?s wife Betty and Bill Clinton?s daughter Chelsea.

According to McLean, animals have always played a role in politics. During World War I, Woodrow Wilson had his sheep 'mow' the White House lawn to support the war efforts by saving money for the gardener.

Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev gave Kennedy?s young daughter Caroline a space puppy, Pushinka whose mother Streika had flown aboard Sputnik 5. Pushinka, or 'Fluffy,' was a peace offering after the Cuban missile crisis. The Kennedys gladly accepted, but only after the dog was intensely searched for bugs.

And when Ford had golden retriever Liberty brought into the Oval Office to play, his visitors knew that their time with the head of state was up.

The only president to experience negative effects by owning a pet was Lyndon B Johnson. Already widely unpopular due to the war in Vietnam, he earned additional public scorn when pulling his beagle?s ears on television.

The importance of animal support in times of war was recently demonstrated by Bush, who is increasingly experiencing isolation due to the disaster in Iraq.

He recently bitterly remarked that he will not pull the troops out of Iraq even if his Scottish terrier Barney and wife Laura were the only ones left who supported him.