Awesome Political Names

Some people are just born with perfect political names. John Courage. Charlie Justice. Jon Powers.

And then there’s Dick Swett.

If you thought the Swing State Project was above this sort of thing, you were sadly wrong. But seeing as the two most popular TV shows among this site’s readers are The Simpsons and Family Guy, I’m not worried.

And man, there are some great names running this year. An early favorite is down in TX-22, where you’ve got Mayor John Manlove. (Not joking.) Out in NJ-07, there’s Deputy Mayor Chris Venis. (Cue Beavis.) I know there are more out there.

So, tell us, what are your favorite political names? They can be ridiculous or awesome. And they don’t just have to be from this cycle – any point in history, from any English-speaking country, will work. Come on people, make me smile!

16 thoughts on “Awesome Political Names”

  1. I have to admit, I’ve always been partial to Butch Otter of Idaho… Makes me laugh every time… Then of course, his former fellow senator Mike Crapo… You can pronounce it however you want, its still crap-o.

  3. Swett’s wife Katrina is the daughter of Representative Tom Lantos (CA-12).  Katrina’s sister Annette also has a husband with an awesome name:  Timber Dick.  He has been a city councilman in Denver.

    Together the two sisters have 17 children, and these kids have had some bizarre names inflicted upon them.  The Swett children’s names are Chanteclair Esprit, Chelsea Brittania, Sebastian Amadeus, Keaton Parkhurst, Kismet Canterbury, Atticus Omega, and Sunday Phoenix.  I don’t have all of the names of the children of Annette and Timber, but they include Levi, Tomicah, Charity, Kimber, Zenith, Sunny and Katrina.

  5. The favorite of Dave Barry.

    Then there’s Wilma Mankiller, the first woman Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

    And it isn’t a political name at all… but I will always have a special place in my heart for Dick Trickle.

  6. OK, not a politician, but there was a fairly prominent Confederate General in the Civil War named Bushrod Johnson.  That led to some of the reports and accounts of the time saying things like “Bushrod Johnson attempted to penetrate the Union rear.”  Today, my guess is he’d be a closeted Republican 🙂

  7. awww….

    Well, I’m gonna break the rule:

    Israel had a minister of the economy named Moshe Nissim.  In English?  Withdraw Miracles.

    🙂

  9. He ran against Dianne Feinstein in 2006.

    One other name that I like, that isn’t quite as hilariously phallocentric, is Reuben Askew: the lopsided sandwich. (He was a Florida governor in the 70s and ran briefly for the Dem presidential nomination in 1984.)

  10. I know, I know, he’s just a governor…

    But, with a name like that, can’t you just imagine him pulling out a big gun and blowing away the bad guys?  I bet he could take out an entire drug lord’s private army, or beat some bad-ass robots from the future.  Heck, he could probably even go against type and hang out with a bunch of kindergarteners.

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