# Pat Paulsen for President! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 15, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620 "2012-01-15T18:16:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620/21 "2012-01-16T06:34:59Z")
I think I actually did vote for Paulson one year. Could have been '72 or '76. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620/22 "2012-01-16T06:47:03Z")
(remembering '72 and '76) You coulda done worse, like the eventual nominees. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620/23 "2012-01-16T13:46:30Z")
Gracie Allen ran for President in 1940, as a candidate for the Surprise Party: > **[Gracie Allen For President 1940](http://theburnsandallenshow.blogspot.com/2008/02/gracie-allen-for-president-1940.html)** > > GRACIE ALLEN'S 1940 PRESIDENTAL CAMPAIGN Gracie Allen, the female half of the runaway comedy team of Burns and Allen, announced one March ev... It would have been _something_, seeing how Gracie would have handled Hitler and Stalin. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620/24 "2012-01-16T14:51:02Z")
I was around for Mr. Paulsen’s first run - it was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620/25 "2012-01-16T14:56:25Z")
My mom voted for him once. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620/26 "2012-01-16T18:15:18Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Gracie Allen ran for President in 1940, as a candidate for the Surprise Party: > > [The George Burns And Gracie Allen Radio Show: Gracie Allen For President 1940](http://theburnsandallenshow.blogspot.com/2008/02/gracie-allen-for-president-1940.html) > > It would have been _something_, seeing how Gracie would have handled Hitler and Stalin. Eddie Cantor started it with the short [Your Next President!](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Your-next-President-Eddie-Cantor-Freedman-/230487681842) in 1932. It was written “with”, meaning by, his radio show’s head writer David Freedmen. W. C. Fields put out a now rare and very collectible collection of political pieces called [Fields for President](http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=5691026160&xbf=b3MtcWctdWJ6cg__%2F96996973705081449165&afn_sr=para¶_l=0) in 1940. The Burns and Allen show made Gracie’s politics a running theme and they also did a short book in 1940, [How to Become President](http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail?invId=9816624968&pwork=0&pisbn=&_ptid=%205Nv03vHgBCI&cm_mmc=scrapers-_-bookfinder-_-na-_-na). Though it’s not very expensive today, the really obscure one is [The Candidate](http://www.amazon.com/Candidate-James-Durante/dp/B001O26F1G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326737130&sr=8-2), a “photographic interview with the Honorable James Durante” for his 1952 television show. Paulsen’s book was in the 1968 campaign, [Pat Paulsen for President](http://www.amazon.com/Pat-Paulsen-president-Mason-Williams/dp/B0007ET48I/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326737264&sr=1-1). Fields for President was reprinted in 1971 and an easy-to-get today paperback edition sold better in 1972. Colbert didn’t invent flogging a show for ratings. He’s in a long tradition. All the links include pictures of the original covers. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620/27 "2012-01-16T18:24:25Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Gracie Allen ran for President in 1940, as a candidate for the Surprise Party: > > [The George Burns And Gracie Allen Radio Show: Gracie Allen For President 1940](http://theburnsandallenshow.blogspot.com/2008/02/gracie-allen-for-president-1940.html) > > It would have been _something_, seeing how Gracie would have handled Hitler and Stalin. I’m imagining her inviting both to the White House for a zany evening of mishaps and misunderstandings while George watches on a closed circuit set in the War Room. Rochester does a cameo from _The Jack Benny Show_ but is introduced as Winston Churchill. Finally Gracie asks Hitler to take Stalin’s picture, and as the camera clicks Gracie cuts his throat in one well rehearsed fluid movement while Rochester empties a shotgun into Stalin (which kills him but turns out to be an accident; Rochester didn’t know it was loaded). Then Gracie yells at Ronnie for not putting out the old rug like she’d told him to and thus getting blood on her carpet. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620/28 "2012-01-16T18:44:44Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’m imagining her inviting both to the White House for a zany evening of mishaps and misunderstandings while George watches on a closed circuit set in the War Room. Rochester does a cameo from _The Jack Benny Show_ but is introduced as Winston Churchill. Finally Gracie asks Hitler to take Stalin’s picture, and as the camera clicks Gracie cuts his throat in one well rehearsed fluid movement while Rochester empties a shotgun into Stalin (which kills him but turns out to be an accident; Rochester didn’t know it was loaded). Then Gracie yells at Ronnie for not putting out the old rug like she’d told him to and thus getting blood on her carpet. Then Bill Goodwin saunters amiably in to say, "Say, Gracie, did you know that Carnation Evap–_omigod what is going on in here?!"_ ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620/29 "2012-01-16T18:58:23Z")
S. S. Van Dine wrote a little ditty called The Gracie Allen Murder Case, which was made into a movie starring Eddie Cantor. Whoops, wrong candidate. And it came out in 1939 about the time of her campaign. Eleanor Roosevelt’s son Elliott signed his name to a long series of ghostwritten mysteries featuring his mother as a detective in the White House. Eve, if you haven’t read them, you should. Good period fun and backstage White House gossip. But apparently the White House was the bloodiest spot in America during Roosevelt’s stay there. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620/30 "2012-01-16T19:07:29Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Eleanor Roosevelt’s son Elliott signed his name to a long series of ghostwritten mysteries featuring his mother as a detective in the White House. Eve, if you haven’t read them, you should. Good period fun and backstage White House gossip. I have the entire set of _Moving Picture Girls_ books, a 1910s series by the _Bobbsy Twins_ author, based loosely on the Gish sisters–they act in photoplays \*and \*solve crimes! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-paulsen-for-president/609620.md?page=1)