Covering politics in Georgia can be a rough business. Someone somewhere is usually angry with me for a column I’ve written or a detail I’ve reported that they would rather have kept hidden. During campaigns and legislative sessions, opening my email feels more like target practice than basic correspondence.
But that changed in February, when I started a new feature in our morning politics newsletter naming a subscriber’s pet the “Dog of the Day” each morning.
Since the topics in the newsletter often range from bad news to worse (indictments, betrayals, self-dealing or failed efforts), ending the newsletter on a lighter note seemed like something to try.
It was also a way to create a point of commonality among our readers, who I knew from experience were more like each other than different, no matter their politics.
“Send me your dogs of any political persuasion,” I wrote. “And cats on a cat-by-cat basis.”
The responses from subscribers all over the state flooded in, from lawmakers, mayors, staffers and diplomats. And they almost always told me something new about who our readers and leaders are.
The dogs of lawmakers, in particular, clearly hold a special place in their hearts, since long hours at the Capitol mean their dogs may spend more time with their families than they do during the legislative session.
While days and nights can be combative, their dogs welcome them home no matter which bill passed or failed. Even if they can’t always trust their colleagues, they can trust their dogs, many told me.
Dogs are so much a part of the family for state Rep. Tyler Paul Smith and his fiancée, Shannon Basford, that they included their three-legged Boykin spaniel, Abby, and rescue dog Wendy, in their engagement photos and then sent those in to be the Dogs of the Day.
To wish state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver a happy birthday, a group of the DeKalb County Democrat’s closest friends created a video montage of Henry, her basset hound, to make sure he stood out from the other Dog of the Day submissions. Henry is a fixture with Oliver on the campaign trail, so her friends knew that highlighting Henry would be the best way to make her day.
Speaking of basset hounds, one of the best pup names so far has been Ruth Bassett Ginsburg, the basset hound of Washington-based lobbyist and Atlanta Journal-Constitution subscriber David Thomas. Ruthie was one of two submissions named for the late Supreme Court justice. State Rep. Betsy Holland’s Bader was the other.
Names people have chosen for their pups have been half of the fun of the Dog of the Day. Former Democratic aide Billy Linville calls his three West Highland terriers the “Kennedy boys” and named them in order as he adopted them — Jack, Bobby and Teddy.
Tina Coria, a legislative assistant at the Capitol, named her two pocket bullies and a pack of chickens “Boy, Girl and the Dixie Chicks.”
I also learned that people’s pets don’t just keep our readers company, they often help them at work, too.
Rachel Galloway, the British consul general stationed in Atlanta, sent in a photo of her cat, Rollo, whom she described as “Atlanta’s top diplo-cat.”
Galloway reported that Rollo “has strong views on NATO, energy policy and Atlanta’s weather.” And she recounted a story about the feline breaking tensions among high-level diplomats when they were stationed at their last post in North Macedonia. Even authoritarian types would soften up when they walked in her office and saw Rollo.
The people most likely to lobby for their dogs have, of course, been lobbyists. Walking through the Capitol at the height of the legislative session meant lobbyists catching me in the hallway to make their pooch’s case for inclusion.
When one lobbyist reached out to advocate for a fellow lobbyist’s Goldador (that’s a mix between a golden retriever and a labrador), I asked him to make sure he filed the proper “pupper-work” to be lobbying for the case.
The Dogs of the Day have also opened doors that I thought were closed long ago. As soon as I posted the call for submissions, an (unsuccessful) 2022 Senate candidate reached out to pitch for his puppy. He’d ignored so many interview requests over the past eight months I assumed he’d ditched my number or sworn off all press. But the only press he swore off was for himself.
Opening my email now means that, several times a day, I’m likely to get a sincere note from someone about the thing they love most in this world, including dogs, cats and even rabbits.
“They mean so very much to me,” a usually crusty state representative wrote in a note about his Labs.
There was also the very meta moment when U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick’s weekly newsletter included a photo of Zeus, the enormous rescue who belongs to McCormick’s chief of staff, whom we named the Dog of the Day. For the first time, our newsletter was newsletter’ed.
The old saying goes, “If you want a friend in politics, get a dog,” with the implication being that people in politics are so contemptible and untrustworthy that only a dog can truly be their friend.
But what dogs really do, in politics and in life, is break down barriers. They show us what we have in common and make space for real friendships to happen. And if a dog can love “Senator X,” how bad can he really be?
My takeaway from the Dog of the Day so far is that people are crazy about their pets, that Boykin spaniels are taking over the world, and that if people in Georgia politics can be this open-hearted about their animals, there must be space for progress somewhere after that.
Feel free to send me your pups of any political persuasion and cats on a cat-by-cat basis to patricia.murphy@ajc.com.
You can check out The Jolt — and Dog of the Day — each weekday at AJC.com or have the newsletter delivered directly to your email.
About the Author
