Political Animals

Mayor Stubbs having his daily afternoon cocktail to ease the stress of life in politics.

Alaska-the cold, distant state that unleashed Sarah Palin on us has a new face of politics that's making headlines. Stubbs, a 15 year old part-Manx cat, has been elected Mayor of the town of Talkeetna. The town of 900 didn't like the human mayoral candidates so Stubbs impressively clawed his way to power as a write-in vote reported USA Today.
The Mayor holds court in his "office" Nagley's General Store and enjoys catnip served in a wine glass every afternoon.
Wow, Alaska. You really know how to pick political leaders. 
I suppose in their defense it should be pointed out that Mayor Stubbs is not the only four legged furball politician around. Other recent political animals included Lucy Lou, a dog elected as a Kentucky town's mayor and Hank the Cat, who made big national mews when the fluffy Maine coon led a strong cat-paign to seriously get on the Senate ballot.

Is this where we are at politically as a nation? So apathetic to government that we'll elect pets?

Our furry friends are even playing a part in this year's presidential campaign. The much discussed "Mitt Romney dog incident" became a serious issue in character for Romney in the election. Basically a story broke about how in 1983, Romney and his family were on a family vacation and took their Irish Setter Seamus along. But Seamus rode on the roof of the station in a carrier-which many thought sounded cruel. As if that wasn't bad enough, poor Seamus got car sick and got diarrhea which oozed down the windows of the Mitt Mobile. Reportedly, Romney stopped at a gas station, cleaned up, and put Seamus back on top of the wagon. A Public Policy Polling urvey found that 74% of Democrats, 66% of Independents, and 63% of Republicans consider it inhumane to put a family dog in a kennel on the roof of a car. The poll also found that 35% of voters would be less likely to vote for Romney because of the Seamus incident. There's also www.DogsAgainstRomney.com.

So are pussies and pups the answer to politics? Well Sarah Palin's state says "you betcha!"