Can pets actually influence the election?

 
 Bill Clinton's cat, Socks (left); John F. Kennedy with John Jr., Caroline,
and Macaroni the  pony (right)

In a campaign where we wonder if an old dog can learn new tricks and the cat's meow can continue to hold the spotlight, we have learned that the presidential race may have finally gone to the dogs.

In a survey by AP/Yahoo news, pet owners seem to favor McCain over Obama 42 to 37 percent.

Among people who don't have pets, Obama leads McCain 48 percent to 34 percent.

McCain has a menagerie of pets on his Arizona ranch, including horses, dogs, and turtles. Pet owners like that in a candidate: sort of the "girls dig guys with dogs" stereotype. 

Meanwhile, Obama doesn't have a pet in the home, which would seem to make him more suspect among people with pets.

Pet owners have long said that having a pet makes one appear more compassionate, so it's not surprising to learn that a vast majority of presidents opt to have pets before and in the White House. 

According to the Presidential Pet Museum:

• George Washington had 36 dogs, 12 horses, and a parrot that belonged to Martha .
   
• Calvin Coolidge had a pack of dogs, a donkey named Ebenezer, a goose named Enoch, canaries, a thrush and a mockingbird,  two house cats, and two "pet" raccoons.
   
• Theodore Roosevelt has 12 horses, five dogs, five guinea pigs, two cats, garter snakes, a horned toad, a pony, two kangaroo rats, a flock of ducks, a flying squirrel, a badger, a pig and a blue macaw named Eli Yale. He also was an avid bird-watcher.
   
• John F. Kennedy had more pets than any other president. While in the White House, he had an animal area near his office with lambs, ponies, dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, parakeets, a canary, a cat, a rabbit and a horse. An obvious destressor during the Cuban missile crisis.
   
• And George W. Bush has had three dogs and two cats, including Barney, a Scottish terrier and a cat named India.

Pets have even influenced White House policy. A turkey intended for Thanksgiving dinner was spared by President Lincoln when his son Tad pleaded for the bird's life. To this day, our President symbolically grants one turkey a reprieve and then has it released into the national reserve. (This may have been the first tofurky Thanksgiving on record.)

Obama may not have a dog now, but he is showing intent. He has promised his girls' a dog "win or lose," but only after the November election. He's smart to not get a dog during one of the most hectic times in his family's life, but he should mention his intention to get one on the campaign trail, every now and then, just to appeal to the nation's pet owners. 

And, if he wins the White House, I bet that will be the first campaign promise he fulfills.