Yesterday I was pealing off my Kucinich for president bumper sticker from the back of my car and I got to thinking about it.
Why do candidates choose the name they choose to put on their signs and stickers? And why is it the last name most of the time?
Ok there will be no great insight on this, but I found I was thinking about this most of the day.
First off I thought about the exceptions to the rule about the last name. The two that jump to mind are "Hillary" and "Ron Paul". I discount Ron Paul because he has two first names and no last to use. But Hillary has the name "Clinton". At the very least pulling out some old "Clinton for Prez" sign could save a lot of cash. Or people might be inclined to think Bill first then Hillary.
I'm sure she had a lot of research and polling done to make sure going with Hillary was the best choice. But I still wonder. If you have ideas as to why she went with her first name I'd love to hear them.
I figured that it's the last name that makes you different from all the other John's, Jack's, Bill's, and Tom's. So that is why people tend to go with it. But Barack has a very unique first name. He could get away with signs saying "Barack 08" with the same name recognition as "Obama 08".
Of course I had this flash of Hillary winning and nominating Tipper Gore and changing the signs to "Clinton and Gore 08" to save money. Then I thought about what would they do if she wins? Will it be Hillary and "Last name" 08? or Hillary and "First Name"? (Hillary and John 08 vs Hillary and Edwards 08). This prompted the thought what if last election had gone first name vs last. Would we still see "George and Dick 04" and "John and John 04" bumper stickers? Or if Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy had run "Bill and Ted's most excellent campaign"? (I guess the insight to my thinking is pretty warped.)
Anyways, I will vote for who ever wins the nomination, it's not like i'm going to vote Republican and I won't vote for "John and Ron 08" (or who ever.) I would like to see this wrap up, but I take great comfort in the fact that "John" still loses 25 to 30% of the Republican vote every time. And that the Republican vote total is less than half the turnout for the lower vote getter between our two.