Bentley the Dog

 

Bentley the Dog, December 6, 2011 (Arkansas) -

VP candidate for DemoCATic Party/RePUPlican Party (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Melville the Cat (b. 2011)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Melville, a mascot cat for a bookstore in Gettysburg, Pa. and apparently also known as Herman "Melville" DeCat Atkins, launched his Presidential campaign via Facebook on Apr. 16, 2015 as a member of the DemoCATic party. Not to be confused with the Alf Shumway/Carrie Fisher ticket who were also running in 2016 using the DemoCATic Party as their banner.

Melville's was a split party ticket, as shown in the announcement of the running-mate, also on Apr. 16, 2015--

My running mate is Bentley the Dog. He resides in Connecticut and is an active member of the RePUPlican Party. As my running mate, he is an expert on running after sticks and balls.

Some other posts during the early days of the electioneering set the tone--

Apr. 16, 2015
Future President Melville will pass legislation that will keep the Senate and House in their seats until a decision is made
on each issue brought before them.......Maybe they get a bag of peanuts and water until they "get er done"........
Bentley
Future VP

Apr. 17, 2015
If I am President: Nap time would be mandated by law. Every cat and every human being would be able to take at least one nap every day.

Apr. 17, 2015
Everything I know I learned from my big sister, Annie. When you're hungry, eat. When you're tired, nap in a sunbeam. When you puke, make sure it is where a bare foot will find it. Any questions?

Bentley is a rescue dog born in Arkansas. He is the mascot for Bentley's "Luv a rescue page."

It goes without saying that if the Melville/Bentley team had emerged victorious on Election Day, there would have been significant Constitutional hurdles for them to jump before being allowed to attain office.

Melville the Cat also ran in 2020 and is slated to run in 2024 but I could not verify a running-mate in either case.

Election history: none

Other occupations: dog

Notes:
Another Melville reference. I once had a rescue cat in the 1980s named Ahab, so named because as a kitten he batted at a mobile with whales bringing to mind Capt. Ahab in Melville's novel Moby Dick. I currently have 3 rescue cats.

Carrie Frances Fisher

 

Carrie Frances Fisher, October 21, 1956 (Burbank, Calif.) – December 27, 2016 (Los Angeles, Calif.)

VP candidate for DemoCatic Party (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Gordon Shumway (b. 1986)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

ALF was a television situation comedy from 1986-1990 on NBC. Since it was a show I have never seen, I'll let the campaign website explain the rest--

ALF, whose real name is Gordon Shumway (this fact alone could make you a champion at Trivial Pursuit), was born and raised on the planet Melmac, to Flo and Bob Shumway. He arrived in Hollywood by accident when his spaceship crashed through the roof of the Tanner family's garage.

He was nicknamed ALF (Alien Life Form) by the Tanner children and actually prefers it to Gordon. Although he speaks most of Earth's languages, many of ALF's customs are unfamiliar and somewhat startling to Earthlings. For example, he has a penchant for snacking on cats and can whistle with his lips closed.

He graduated from Melmac High School where he majored in software and pedestrian crossing. ALF was active in the Skleen Club and was a co-captain of the Bouilabaseball team for three years. (Bouilabaseball is similar to Earth's baseball -only it uses fish.)

Before landing on our planet, he spent more than a dozen years as an orbit guard. Other previous occupations include Assistant Boxleitner and part-time male model. At one time he even owned and operated his own Phlegm dealership. (The Phlegm 220 was a classic sports car.)

ALF's current hobbies are Gerrymandering, audio-animatronic impressions, and eating.

A Sagittarius, ALF is 244 years old (in 2011). "I've got dandruff older than your country," he says. Although he is single, he insists he's "still looking."

A perennial popular culture candidate, ALF had developed a platform designed for the short attention span--

Complicated Government
"I finally figured out why your political system is so complicated. That's just the way your world works. If we didn't understand something, we broke it." ~ALF

Homeless
Mr. Shumway plans to have houses built for each of them (see unemployment).

Pollution
"To get rid of pollution, just tie big balloons on all the smokestacks to catch the dirty air." ~ALF
"My solution to pollution will help your consitution, so send a contribution and start the revolution. Uh-huh, uh-huh!" ~ALF

Unemployment
"If I can restore a man's dignity by climbing on his back, I say go for it!" ~ALF
There won't be any, everybody will be busy building houses (see homeless).

War
"Preventing war is easy. Just tell the people who are mad at each other to kiss and make up." ~ALF

ALF's 2016 campaign began in January of that year. The selection of Carrie Fisher as his VP was announced on Aug. 22, 2016--

ALF ANNOUNCES CARRIE FISHER AS RUNNING MATE

August 22, 2016
By Samuel Stokes, Campaign Correspondent

ALF's campaign has been struggling ever since his first two V.P. picks, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, turned down the nomination a few weeks ago.  However, ALF's campaign has found new momentum as it announced that Carrie Fisher has accepted the nomination to be ALF's running mate.

Carrie Fisher is best known for her iconic role a Princess Leia from the Star Wars franchise, most recently reprising her role in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.  Although her on-screen character was both a member of the Imperial Senate and a General in the Rebel Alliance, Fisher herself has never been highly involved in politics, leading others to speculate as to why she so willingly accepted the nomination.

"I have great respect for ALF," says Fisher, "You don't see many TV stars his age that haven't had a lot of plastic surgery done to hide their old age.  In fact, even in his heyday, he resisted the Hollywood pressure to get a nose job."

ALF is excited about the partnership and the much-needed bump it has given his polling figures.

"Before Fisher accepted the nomination," said ALF, "I wasn't even appearing on the polls.  Now, I'm in single digits... I mean digit!"

With the still meager figures, many wonder if Fisher is ALF's only hope, but to this question Fisher simply replied, "No, there is another."

Fisher was no fan of Trump during the 2016 election, as some of her Twitter entries express-

Oct. 9, 2016 - Donald trump is a classless thug Trying 2 scare us in2 voting 4 him-an entitled, elitist, racist misogynist-dangerous, unkind &  w/o empathy

Oct. 15, 2016 - So you have to be attractive to be groped uninvited by Trump. Finally! A reason to want to be ugly!

Nov. 6, 2016 - Trump speaking his mind isn't refreshing, it's appalling. Coca Cola is refreshing...

Unfortunately Fisher died on Dec. 27, 2016. In the event of their victory, the Vice-President elect would have been deceased after the Electoral College met but before House and Senate confirmed, so it would have been possible to fill the position with a substitute prior to Inauguration Day.

After her death her image as Princess Leia began to surface as an icon for various anti-Trump groups as wide ranging as feminist activists to one of my Ron Paul Libertarian neighbors displaying the "Resist" sticker on her car.

Election history: none

Other occupations: actor, author, novelist, playwright, speaker

Buried: Cremated. Some ashes were buried with her mother Debbie Reynolds who died a day after Carrie, in Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Hollywood Hills. Other ashes were placed in an enormous decorative Prozac pill.

Notes:
Stars Wars is OK, but for my money my favorite of all her roles was as the revenge-minded jilted bride in The Blues Brothers.

Susan Alexandra Weaver

 

Susan Alexandra Weaver, October 8, 1949 (New York, N.Y.) -

VP candidate for DemoCatic Party (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Gordon Shumway (b. 1986)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

ALF was a television situation comedy from 1986-1990 on NBC. Since it was a show I have never seen, I'll let the campaign website explain the rest--

ALF, whose real name is Gordon Shumway (this fact alone could make you a champion at Trivial Pursuit), was born and raised on the planet Melmac, to Flo and Bob Shumway. He arrived in Hollywood by accident when his spaceship crashed through the roof of the Tanner family's garage.

He was nicknamed ALF (Alien Life Form) by the Tanner children and actually prefers it to Gordon. Although he speaks most of Earth's languages, many of ALF's customs are unfamiliar and somewhat startling to Earthlings. For example, he has a penchant for snacking on cats and can whistle with his lips closed.

He graduated from Melmac High School where he majored in software and pedestrian crossing. ALF was active in the Skleen Club and was a co-captain of the Bouilabaseball team for three years. (Bouilabaseball is similar to Earth's baseball -only it uses fish.)

Before landing on our planet, he spent more than a dozen years as an orbit guard. Other previous occupations include Assistant Boxleitner and part-time male model. At one time he even owned and operated his own Phlegm dealership. (The Phlegm 220 was a classic sports car.)

ALF's current hobbies are Gerrymandering, audio-animatronic impressions, and eating.

A Sagittarius, ALF is 244 years old (in 2011). "I've got dandruff older than your country," he says. Although he is single, he insists he's "still looking."

A perennial popular culture candidate, ALF had developed a platform designed for the short attention span--

Complicated Government
"I finally figured out why your political system is so complicated. That's just the way your world works. If we didn't understand something, we broke it." ~ALF

Homeless
Mr. Shumway plans to have houses built for each of them (see unemployment).

Pollution
"To get rid of pollution, just tie big balloons on all the smokestacks to catch the dirty air." ~ALF
"My solution to pollution will help your consitution, so send a contribution and start the revolution. Uh-huh, uh-huh!" ~ALF

Unemployment
"If I can restore a man's dignity by climbing on his back, I say go for it!" ~ALF
There won't be any, everybody will be busy building houses (see homeless).

War
"Preventing war is easy. Just tell the people who are mad at each other to kiss and make up." ~ALF

ALF's 2012 campaign began in January of that year. A website and Facebook account were set up for the electioneering. In July film star Sigourney Weaver was selected as the running-mate. Weaver had considerable onscreen experience with aliens, as well as in stories set in the White House. As the ALF campaign press release related--

ALF NAMES RUNNING MATE

July 1, 2012
By Samuel Stokes, Campaign Correspondent

In a Thursday morning press conference, DemoCatic Presidential candidate Gordon “ALF” Shumway  announced his running mate for the 2012 election.

Earlier in the week, the Romney campaign facetiously announced via Twitter that, “ALF has narrowed down his choice of running mate to E.T. and Mr. Spock, LMAO!”

ALF was dismayed by the tactless comment and said, “Jokes like this are demeaning to the dignity of the office of Vice President. So without further ado, I’m pleased to announce that my running mate for the 2012 election is Sigourney Weaver.”

ALF cited Weaver’s strength of character and her key role in Earth’s defense against intergalactic invasion. Weaver was astonished and flattered by the nomination, which she enthusiastically accepted. After the conference, when Weaver was asked whether ALF realized that the Alien movies in which she starred were fictional, she replied, “I don’t know, but I’m not telling him.”  

In 2012 Weaver had completed a role in the UFO comedy Paul, and at the height of the election season appeared in a USA Network miniseries entitled Political Animals where she played a character who was very much like Hillary Clinton.

Although Weaver had been a volunteer for Nelson Rockefeller in the past, she counted herself as a Democrat later. When asked in 2012 by interviewer Ron Bennington if she had ever met a sitting President, she replied, "I have. I went to the Reagan White House. I was the guest of, you know, I guess one of the little Saudi princes had just seen 'Ghostbusters' and wanted to meet Zuul. (laughs) So, I was actually not….you know being a Democrat, I at first said I was busy and then my father lectured me on if you’re invited by the President, you go ... So I went. And I did try, it was a very beautiful and glamorous night and I did actually try to speak to President Reagan about abortion rights. (laughs) And that didn’t go over very well. I was picked up and moved away from the President very quickly."

Election history: none

Other occupations: actor

Notes:
She is a niece of Doodles Weaver!
Weaver films on my VHS/DVD shelves: Eyewitness, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Dave, Galaxy Quest, Paul. She's great in all of them.