Chicken George was acampaign tactic in the1992 U.S. presidential election, where one or more people inchicken costumes heckled PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush over his refusal to participate in adebate with Democratic candidateBill Clinton.[1]
In 1992, Bush refused to agree to the debate format determined by theCommission on Presidential Debates. As late as September, the campaign was refusing to accept proposals from the Commission.[2]
Clinton supporters Derrick Parker and Corbett Edge O'Meara came up with the idea for Chicken George at a bar inDetroit,Michigan, on September 9, 1992. They devised apublicity stunt invoking thepejorative term "chicken" that involved renting a chicken costume and following Bush around, calling him too cowardly to debate. The following day, Parker appeared as the chicken outside theDetroit Economic Club, where Bush was giving aLabor Day speech. The Chicken did not speak, but was accompanied by O'Meara, who called himself ColonelJames Baker III and acted as his spokesperson, "translating" the chicken sounds that Parker would make.[3]
Their publicity efforts were eventually picked up by the national news media and included anABC World News Tonight story interviewing the pair on a golf course in theUpper Peninsula. Soon the Clinton campaign was ensuring that a chicken would appear at each Bush event. Clinton political strategistJames Carville wrote that "... there was a Michigan Chicken George, a Mississippi Chicken George, a Tennessee Chicken George. At first we recruited them, but real soon all the local people wanted to do it. Everybody wanted to be Chicken George. It was the way to get on TV. AtWar Room meetings we'd get a Chicken George report."[4] Chicken Georges inClarksville, Tennessee had signs that said "Read My Beak: Don't Be a Chicken. Debate."[2] A Chicken George in Mississippi was arrested. Another inShreveport, Louisiana, was unable to get through security until he showed them a sign that said "Poultry Workers for Bush." After he was inside the campaign event, he turned the sign around to reveal that it said "Chicken George".[4]
Mary Matalin, Bush's deputy campaign manager for political operations, wrote that Bush thought the chicken was hilarious. She relates that he would find the chicken in the crowd and tell it fish jokes that poked fun at Clinton's environmental record. Bush would also send his advance people into the crowds to determine where the chicken was so he would know where to find it. Though staffers grew concerned afterCNN aired footage of Bush talking to the chicken, the President did not want to stop.[4]
The Bush campaign reciprocated, releasing live ducks at a Clinton campaign event while Bush supporters usedduck calls. The campaign sought to draw attention to the notion that Bill Clinton had "ducked" the draft to avoid military service during theVietnam War. A Bush campaign assistant secured 200 live chickens in preparation for a Clinton campaign event held inMadison, Wisconsin. The campaign had wanted ducks and not chickens, but compromised by pairing the chickens with duck calls.[4]
During awhistle-stop tour of the Midwest, Bush engaged the Chicken, saying "you talking about the draft-record chicken or you talking about the chicken in theArkansas River? Which one are you talking about? Which one? Get out of here."[5] The interaction resulted in dozens of television news images, print reports, and a front page SundayNew York Times photograph.
Eventually, Bush agreed to participate in the debates and the chicken thus stopped shadowing him.
Since the 1992 election, many campaigns have deployed people in chicken costumes, usually to heckle candidates who are refusing to participate in debates.[6] Soon-to-be British Prime MinisterTony Blair was mocked in a similar fashion during theBritish general election of 1997.[7]Lee Cain,Boris Johnson's formerDirector of Communications, also previously dressed up as a chicken to taunt another soon-to-be PM,David Cameron, as well as the soon-to-beChancellorGeorge Osborne, while working for theDaily Mirror.[8]
Politicians from the United States who have been shadowed by costumed chickens includeGeorge W. Bush[9] andJeanne Shaheen.[6]
