Would you vote for someone with a beard?

[Omaha Steve]

I have several of these types of questions to ask over the next few weeks.

[SmokingJacket]

1. A beard is a plus for me.

A fancy mustache, double plus.

[meegbear]

6. You're preaching to the choir sister!

[TechBear_Seattle]

15. Ah, men!

:toast:

[meegbear]

17. Gimme a Daddy President in '08!!

[mentalsolstice]

2. Is Al growing his back out? n/t

[two gun sid]

Yes. Beards are cool.

[Der Blaue Engel]

3. Yes, but only if he's got mutton-chops

and a flaming skull tattoo.

[galadrium]

4. Sure... though I think the last president to have a beard was Harrison

[babylonsister]

5. I married someone w/a beard; I'm sure I could vote for someone. nt

[Buzz Clik]

7. A beard like Santa? Or a beard like Osama?

[Coyote_Bandit]

8. I've seen more than one candidate

over the past several decades whose appearance might have benefitted from a nicely groomed beard. Not sure what that would have done to their vote count.

[rock]

9. I don't care what she looks like

I'd vote for her.

[Mrs. Overall]

10. I think there is a "beard prejudice" in this country, especially after

9/11.

My husband was laid off of work right after 9/11 as part of the "dotcom" bust. He had a beard and applied for many computer jobs, which in the past had been no problem because he is highly qualified. This time, however, no one would hire him, always offering vague reasons. Finally, a clerk in a grocery store said to him one day, "You're lucky you don't wear a turban or you'd be shot at around here." It hit us that, although he is Italian, he looks Middle Eastern. The following week, we picked my daughter up from school and suddenly some boys started chasing our car, shouting, "It's Osama! It's Osama!" I persuaded him to cut his beard because we were desperate for a job (in principal, he didn't want to), but he did, and voila! next interview, he was hired.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

18. Wow, I had the same issue.

Italian-American with a beard. Couldn't get hired. Shaved the beard and got a job.

Unbelievably sad.

[SheilaT]

11. Yes, assuming

I already think well enough of that person to vote for him in the first place.

I personally thought Al Gore looks much better with a beard than clean-shaven.

[Ignacio Upton]

12. It's unlikely that we'll see a major candidate with one

The last major party candidate to run with a beard was Charles Evans Hughes, who ran against Woodrow Wilson in 1916. I think the last elected President with a beard was Benjamen Harrison.

[zulchzulu]

13. Depends on the beard...

[TechBear_Seattle]

14. I don't base my vote on trivialities like facial hair

Beards are irrelevant: I vote solely on how well I think the candidate will represent me. If someone has a beard or long hair or a birth mark or a "wrong" skin color or some other merely physical difference, who cares? I would gladly vote for a man (or woman, for that matter) with a beard if I felt s/he would represent me well. :hi:

[troubleinwinter]

16. Certainly.

[mnhtnbb]

19. Americans are so bigoted. Skin color, gender, beard? More important to some

than values, ethics, intelligence, integrity.

[MADem]

20. You need a third choice--depends on the beard.

I am guessing that answer would be the OVERWHELMING choice if you offered it.

Are we talking a beard like the ones Mark Foley sported on his arm at fancy Florida cocktail parties, or a beard like those of Uncle Sam, Abraham Lincoln, Santa Claus, the Unibomber, Osama Bin Laden, and so forth?

Are we talking neat and well trimmed, or scruffy and full of last week's pizza? With moustache, or without? And is the moustache a big waxed number, a Hitlerian little dab, or a pencil thin bit of drama? Do we call gotees beards, or are they beard wanna-bees?

Facial hair and baldness are toughies to overcome. Ike managed to overcome the baldness with five stars, and Lyndon was so tall his high hairline didn't look quite so receding. Short stature is a challenge by and large, too, though not entirely (Bush stole the election from the taller man, both times). Of course, that's all using the paradigm of the white man, and America tends to like their white men clean shaven, tall and with hair.

[ReadTomPaine]

21. Was this inspired by the "44 and 47. They look good together" thread in GD?

There was a sub thread discussion about presidential facial hair where I suggested Obama should grow a mustache..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x34781#34988

Here's the photoshopped image:


Also - here's a CNN fluff piece on the subject, including a video clip.

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/02/13/beards.presidency/

It's fairly rare to find facial hair in politics these days, but there are some outstanding exceptions...

[Awsi Dooger]

23. Facial hair is a disaster in major statewide races

I've used that as a partial criteria in political wagering for a decade. Wellstone was smart enough to understand it. You picture him like that, but he shaved off the facial hair when he was suddenly in a tough contest with Norm Coleman in '02, before the fatal plane crash, of course. I guarantee the shave was hardly a coincidence.

Jimmy the Greek bet huge on Truman over Dewey in '48 based on a poll that indicated women don't like facial hair on a man. He theorized they would likely not vote for Dewey as a result, even if subconsciously.

There are very few examples these days but the candidates with facial hair overwhelmingly flop, virtually never matching their poll numbers. The only exception I can think of is Corzine in New Jersey. He didn't manage his poll numbers in the 2000 senate race, but surpassed them in the 2005 gov race. Perhaps full facial hair is not as masochistic as a mustache alone.

I have never come close to losing a political bet when opposing a candidate with a mustache. In 2002 there were four major candidates with mustaches, two from each party, and all of them lost big, including Strickland in Colorado despite leading many polls. We had discussion on this board with poster from Colorado saying Strickland could win if he just got rid of the damn mustache.

This year it was a joke when some pundits were picking Steele as an upset possibility in Maryland. His commercials may have been cute but the mustache more than negated any benefit. That was one of my largest and most confident bets of the cycle and it was runaway predictable that Steele not only lost but lost big, not even threatening the poll consensus. Luckily we rejected Mfume in the primary. He had an idiotic mustache also.

[ReadTomPaine]

24. For whatever reasons, and I'm sure there are several, that does indeed seem to be the case..

What are your speculations as why this is the case?

[Spirochete]

22. Only if it was a man

No Ann Coulter stealth candidates. ZZ Top for president!