Political Dog Days

From The New York Times:

Scott Walker, Allergic to Dogs, May Run Against Political History

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and his wife, Tonette, had planned to spend a recent Friday night at the Nashua home of Jennifer Horn, the New Hampshire Republican chairwoman.

Then he heard about Al, the Horns’ beloved Dalmatian-Catahoula Leopard mix.

The dinner was promptly moved to a restaurant in nearby Bedford. “The governor’s allergic to dogs,” Ms. Horn said. “And we have a very hairy dog.”

... If the ritual for presidential candidates wooing American voters had a handbook, “must love dogs” would be somewhere near the front.

At the Newseum in Washington, the “First Dogs: American Presidents and Their Pets” exhibit is listed as “on display indefinitely.” On the National Mall, the memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt depicts his Scottish terrier, Fala, forever at his feet. Puppy love in presidential campaigns dates at least to Herbert Hoover, who loosened up his stiff image by posing, paws in hands, with King Tut, his Belgian Malinois, on the way to victory in 1928.

The issue of dogs and Presidents is not small.

Ask Mitt Romney... if you can find him. He was last seen waiting to box Evander Holyfield. Seriously. Jimmy Carter builds houses for the poor and cures the sick in Africa while wiping out the disease afflicting them, but the best that zillionaire Mitt Romney can do is put on silk shorts and dance the jitterbug in a ring while mugging for the cameras?

Ah well, it will be a fun election, and do doubt there will be more dog stories to come.

We have explored Presidential dogs in the past.

We would be remiss, however, if we did not mention the real prize so far.

While Mrs. Clinton has a toy poodle with a passable name -- Tally -- it is Bill Clinton who, as always, simply floors us.

He has a chocolate Lab by the name of... Seamus.

Seriously.

He named his dog SHAME US.

What public relations professional allowed that?  Perhaps the same one that allowed Ted Kennedy to name his dog... wait for it... SPLASH.