Thin Blue Line: Broward Sheriff s Office

Sunday, 16 December 2012

Broward Sheriff s Office

Take Tinkerbell, Sire and Tasha. They’re a few of the political pooches that showed up in local campaign ads this season, helping candidates make a canine connection with voters.

Broward Judge Robert Diaz thought people would notice his family in his political fliers, but no. They focused on his Chihuahua.“They’d go, ‘Oh, look at Tinkerbell,’ “ he recounted. “ ‘What a beautiful dog.’ “Political pets have been helping politicians relate to the public for decades. Think Richard Nixon and his dog Checkers. Bill Clinton and Buddy the chocolate Lab (and his feline foe, Socks the cat). FDR and his Scottish terrier, Fala.In more recent times, hair’s been flying over presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s admission he packaged the family dog, Seamus, in a crate atop the station wagon on a vacation journey in 1983. T-shirts came out declaring “Dogs aren’t luggage.’’ The group “Dogs Against Romney” came to be. And last week, Devo broke out a new song to memorialize it: “Don’t Roof Rack Me, Bro!