Political Pooches

Dogs have scored more political points for presidents than slick sound bites and high-paid consultants. When Franklin D Roosevelt ran for reelection in 1944, he made political hay from headlines featuring his Scottie, Fala.

Critics attacked FDR for allegedly using taxpayers' money to send a destroyer to the Aleutian Islands to fetch Fala--inadvertently left behind (rumor had it) by FDR. In a famous fireside chat, FDR told American that the allegations ignited fury in the dog's Scotch soul. "He has not been the same dog since," FDR said. 

Eight years later, Richard Nixon employed a similar tactic in his "Checkers speech" (named for the First Family's cocker spaniel) to deflect attention from charges that he had accepted improper gifts. 

Score two for the dogs: FDR won in '44, and many pundits think Checkers kept Nixon on the ticket in '52.