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I love that Jon Corzine is being followed around by a guy in a chicken suit during his gubernatorial reelection campaign in New Jersey:
Some guy in a chicken suit walked alongside the governor the entire way, saying nothing. Corzine seemed not to notice. Finally, driven by curiosity, I asked the chicken what he was supposed to represent. He held up a sign. It said: “Jon Corzine raised your taxes. Ask him why.”
All good campaigns involve guys in chicken suits. It's practically a law of politics.
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I am an assistant professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College. I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Duke University in 2009 and served as a RWJ Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan from 2009-2011. I also tweet at @BrendanNyhan and serve as a media critic for Columbia Journalism Review. Previously, I co-edited Spinsanity, a non-partisan watchdog of political spin, and co-authored All the President's Spin. For more, see my bio or academic website.
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I, for one, mourn the continuing decline of this blog*, as is exemplified in this tacit support for the thesis that Corzine's support for a balanced budget is somehow related to his obvious love of chicken.
Truly, no one but a media economist could have predicted back in 2003 or 2004 that Brendan Nyhan -- a wonky health policy researcher with graduate training in political science -- would be writing posts about how "it's practically a law of politics" that "all good campaigns involve guys in chicken suits." There's no better illustration of the power of commercial incentives to shape media content.
*At times, Brendan-Nyhan.com is still an excellent news source, but the substantive blogging on which it made its reputation is now the exception rather than the rule. Most of the time I'd characterize its content as something akin to talk radio for pox-on-both-their-houses "independents".
Posted by: Conor Kenny | October 26, 2009 at 01:35 PM
Wow, that is an all-time classic in the Brendan-hating tradition.
Posted by: bnyhan | October 26, 2009 at 02:22 PM
Yeah, sorry if that came off as harsh, I was just making a joke. I find your more poli-sci stuff quite innovative, actually.
Posted by: Conor Kenny | October 26, 2009 at 05:04 PM
No worries, Conor -- I actually laughed out loud; it was easily my favorite comment in weeks...
Posted by: bnyhan | October 26, 2009 at 08:00 PM