VOTE FOR HANK! by Charlie

In this year of national elections, there are lots of candidates running for lots of offices, and I am going to tell you about one of them.  His name is Hank, he lives in Virginia, and he is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate.  But the thing that sets Hank apart from ordinary politicians is that he is a Maine Coon Cat, just like me!  I feel so excited and inspired by this that I could hardly wait to tell everybody.  And Piper said that if I wanted to write about it in her blog, I should go ahead, because she thinks it's totally stupid for a cat to run for office, which means that this topic is not one she herself would ever touch with a ten-foot pole.

So it's up to me to tell you about Hank.  Like a lot of politicians, he had a very humble beginning.  He was born to a single mother and lived on the streets until he, his mother, and his siblings were taken to a shelter. There they were placed on death row, but just in the nick of time, a rescue group saved them.  Hank was fostered by Matthew O'Leary and Anthony Roberts, who later decided to become his official adoptive dads.

Hank is 9 years old now, and he is wise and experienced in life.  Because of his early experiences, he knows that the judicial system needs to be reworked so that there are equal opportunities for all.  He also supports job creation and low-cost spay/neuter programs.  Politically, Hank has positioned himself as a moderate independent.  He wears ties with both red and blue in them.  He has a website, stickers, signs, and also a Facebook page.

If you would like to see Hank's campaign ad, which is called "The Greatest Land of All," you can watch it by clicking on the link that I have so thoughtfully provided.   Part of Hank's platform is to avoid running any negative ads, and yet he has been savagely attacked by a group called Canines for a Feline-Free Tomorrow, who produced an ad called "Hank for Senate?  No Way."

But in spite of this nasty mud-slinging, Hank continues to keep his own paws clean and to pursue his honorable campaign along the same path that he outlined when first announcing his candidacy:

“In this time of austerity, of threats to families’ livelihoods and to our civil liberties, it is essential that we choose the right leader. Our situation is too dire to risk placing this important job in the wrong paws, and that is why I have decided to run for US Senate for the great Commonwealth of Virginia. If I had to sum up my feelings for Virginia’s future, I would have to say: Meow.”

The biggest hurdle that Hank will have to leap over is the fact that current laws prohibit animals from serving in Congress.  Still, if a dog can serve as the mayor of a town in Kentucky, surely people will see that it makes just as much sense for a cat to occupy a seat in the Senate -- preferably one with a nice, soft cushion.

I only wish I lived in Virginia so that I could vote for Hank personally (or felinely, as the case may be).  But maybe I will just have to run for office sometime here in my own fine state of Missouri!

Oh, and before I quit writing, Mom said I should tell you that Jason came home from the hospital yesterday.  He's still not feeling all that great, which I can tell because he mostly wants to sleep.  Of course, all cats mostly want to sleep, but Jason wants to sleep more than he, a normally energetic kitten, usually does.  He has been eating his meals, though, and taking his medicine, so we hope he will feel all better very soon.