ANOTHER WEEK, another prime candidate.
Oh, but not for voting. No, we mean that another presidential contender, by declaring, has gone and entered the cartoonists’ den.
Now visual satirists, they don’t approach the whole business of American democracy in action quite like normal folk. As this national match of electoral poker plays out, political artists often play their cards close to the vested interests. Because they are paid to be artful jokers, they necessarily have skewed preferences over who is shooting to be kings and queens. And the graphical pull toward certain candidates is inevitable.
“What’s good for us political satirists certainly isn’t necessarily good for the rest of the world. I believe the German word for this is ‘schadenweldenfreude,’ ” jokes Matt Wuerker, the Pulitzer-winning cartoonist for Politico. “For us, it’s the loonier the better.”
And from the right side of the political aisle, Steve Breen, the Pulitzer-winning cartoonist for the San Diego Union-Tribune, acknowledges how a specific candidate trait can lure cartoonists like a moth to the flame — a lantern of sheer lampoonability.
“A cartoonist is inexorably drawn to Trump’s bombastic arrogance,” Breen tells The Post, “like a lecherous multimillionaire is attracted to a young, Slavic model.”
So with all these hats now being thrown in the political ring, which candidate is emerging as the most fun to caricature? From toupeed head to toe, who embodies the most delicious smorgasbord of richly exaggerated features?
Well, with that very puzzler in mind, Comic Riffs approached nine of the nation’s top political cartoonists, both liberal and conservative, to ask: Who from among the electoral hordes is your favorite current presidential candidate to draw?
Here is how they answered:
NATE BEELER (Columbus Dispatch):
As of now, I’ve only drawn a handful of the candidates. The one I’ve tackled the most is Hillary Clinton, but I’m not super happy with my version of her. Of the Republicans, I think Ted Cruz is the most fun to draw because his features are so interesting-looking.
He reminds me of the silent-movie stars. Can’t you just picture him in black and white, either as a swashbuckling hero come to save Washington, or a black-clothed villain tying an Obamacare maiden to the train tracks? I’m eager to draw him and Rand Paul’s curls as we get closer to 2016.
The one possible GOP contender who gives me fits is the guy I’ve drawn the most: Ohio Gov. John Kasich. There’s something about his face that throws me every time I sit down at the drawing board. I usually blame it on the fact that he lacks eyebrows.
STEVE BREEN (San Diego Union-Tribune):
It has to be Donald Trump. I love going after him. I know he’s an easy target, but he has such a nice, puffy face and weird head of hair. Plus, a cartoonist is inexorably drawn to Trump’s bombastic arrogance like a lecherous multi-millionaire is attracted to a young, Slavic model.
[As the Trump card enters race, the nation’s jokers are flush with glee]
KEVIN “KAL” KALLAUGHER (The Economist and the Baltimore Sun):
Christie is among the most interesting to engage as a caricature because his body is an essential feature of his recognition. It is hard to utilize the typical Big Head/Little Body equation that is conventional in cartoons because his body shape makes his head look small. He has been grappling with a weight problem for some time, and it would be an easy target for cartoonists to poison his portrait with a little padding around the waist. The challenge for me is to create an effective caricature that doesn’t appear to be gratuitously adding pounds, but instead accentuates the total shape of his head/body combination.
MIKE LUCKOVICH (Atlanta Journal Constitution):
Of all the clowns in the Republican clown car, my favorite’s Jeb. There’s an arrogance about him, and it’s funny when he’s asked questions he should’ve seen coming and stumbles over them. With Jindal, Cruz, Christie, Huckabee and Jeb, to name but a few, this group is like something “Saturday Night Live” dreamed up.
JIMMY MARGULIES (The Record):
Since I have been drawing cartoons of Chris Christie as New Jersey governor since he took office, I would have to go with him as a favorite. He has been running for president almost from the day he first took office, even if he declined to get into the race in 2012.
His at-times intemperate outbursts — as well as policy decisions that have been both self-serving towards his candidacy, as well as highly questionable in terms of what is best for New Jersey — have made him, as one observer characterized it: “The gift that keeps on giving.”
I don’t know how successful he will be as a candidate this time, but according to his announcement speech, he promises to be outspoken and hold little back, so it is likely he will generate some controversy that becomes good cartoon fodder for New Jersey audiences, and possibly national ones, as well.
SCOTT STANTIS (Chicago Tribune):
I have been drawing Hillary and her ever-changing hair for 20 years, so there is some comfort in familiarity there. Christie is a big bucket goo, and that’s always fun, but my favorite so far is Ted Cruz. He looks a lot like Joe McCarthy. Heavy brows and narrow eyes. A pointed nose and a lipless mouth. Add a five o’clock shadow and there he is.
[Heads of State: Our 15-step guide to caricaturing your very own Hillary Clinton!]
SIGNE WILKINSON (Philly.com):
I like them all except for Lindsey Graham, who — like so many nice-looking, pale-haired, middle-aged white men — has no discernible features. [I] adore Ted Cruz’s glass jaw.
MATT WUERKER (Politico):
The start of a campaign puts a cartoonist in that awkward spot of having to choose between what’s best for the country and what’s best for satire. What’s good for us political satirists certainly isn’t necessarily good for the rest of the world. I believe the German word for this is “schadenweldenfreude.” For us, it’s the loonier the better, so it’s hard to beat Donald Trump when it comes to being the ideal generator of juicy political bombast and ready-made political satire. And then, of course, there’s his hair.
ADAM ZYGLIS (Buffalo News):
I would say the larger-than-life Christie takes the cake — no pun intended. He has a Mafioso quality that makes it incredibly fun to draw. His physical size, distinctive features and strong personality lend well to caricature, to say the least. The fact that he’s a more legitimate candidate makes him a more important target than Trump, in my opinion.
Trump comes in at a close second, and it’s 100 percent because of the hair, of course. If you can imagine the Donald with a generic hairdo, he would be infinitely less interesting to draw. That said, his egoism and outrageous comments have been a magnet to satirists. It’s like T-ball for cartoonists. He’s clearly the vanity candidate.
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