Friday, July 14, 2017

THE PRAIRIE EDITOR: Senator Kid Rock?

The latest celebrity who has indicated a serious interest in
a political run in  2018 is rap star Kid Rock (real name: Robert
Ritchie) who is from Michigan and could be the Republican
challenger to incumbent Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow.
Until now, Mrs. Stabenow was considered to have a safe seat.

Sports and show business celebrities have run for major
political offices in recent years, and many have won. Most
notable, perhaps, were the elections of pro basketball star Bill
Bradley, U.S. senate; actor Fred Thompson, U.S. senate;
baseball star Jim Bunning, U.S. senate; pro wrestler Jess
Ventura, governor; actor Arnold Schwarznegger, governor;
football star Jack Kemp, congressman; singer Sonny Bono
congressman; football star Steve Largent, congressman; actor
George Murphy R-U.S. senate; and TV series actor Fred Grandy,
congressman.

The two most famous, of course, have been film actor Ronald
Reagan who was elected governor of California, and then
president of the United States; and Donald Trump, TV show
host and celebrity businessman, who is the current resident
in the White House.

Not all of them were distinguished, but some of them, including
especially Reagan, Kemp and Bradley, made their mark in their
adopted profession. The total list of sports and show business
personalities elected to office is much longer, and the incidence
of new candidacies is becoming more frequent.

Comedians and Olympic hockey players have run and won, so
why not rapper Kid Rock?

Although a sports or show business background is not usually
considered an ideal training ground for elective office, perhaps
the public relations and communications skills athletes and
entertainers often have made it inevitable that more and more
celebrities are throwing themselves (no one, except for Kid
Rock, wears hats any more) into the political arena.

In spite of the overwhelming bias of Hollywood and show
business personalities to the Democratic Party (in 2016, many
were for Bernie Sanders and some for Hillary Clinton, but very
few for Donald Trump), most of those celebrities elected to
public office have been conservatives. Kid Rock was an early
and prominent supporter of Mr. Trump, and might draw a
strong youth (and middle-aged blue collar) vote. (That was
primarily how Jesse Ventura, a political centrist in a then-liberal
state, won.)

Who knows, the Congressional Record might be on the verge of
becoming funky and hip.

And rhymed?

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Copyright (c) 2017 by Barry Casselman. All rights reserved


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