Candidate theme songs

Posted on Wednesday 11 June 2003

From Slate’s candidate profiles (start here), here’s the list of Democratic pres. contender campaign theme songs:

Lieberman - We Are Family (Sister Sledge)
Kerry - I Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty), No Surrender (Bruce Springsteen)
John Edwards - Small Town (John Mellencamp)
Dick Gephardt - The Best (Tina Turner)
Bob Graham - The Best (Tina Turner)
Howard Dean - A Little Less Conversation (Elvis Presley)

I question the political marketing savvy of using popular songs as campaign themes. It worked for Clinton/Gore in 92, in part because Fleetwood Mac captured both a generational identification and a general feel-good sentiment the campaign wanted to convey. In contrast, these choices are flat and literal, even one liner comments, as in Dean’s case. Except for Lieberman’s choice, which is just surreal.


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