| Campaign Hair: George & Al With Ricky Martin Spikes |
| Karen Marie Shelton |
| Date: 3/13/2000 |
Introduction  It was late at night and I was surfing on the Web when I found a fascinating political column on MSNBC.com written by Howard Fineman. Not only did Howard have two of the best frontal faces of the two remaining Presidential candidates (George W. Bush & Al Gore), he had some very interesting information about both candidates.
According to Howard, "Al Gore sported long hair, sandals and rode a motorcycle his senior year of college. George W. Bush was the poster boy for a clean cut Fraternity (DKS) president".  Al Gore with long hair? Hmmm, I wondered. Would Al do as well in the current presidential race with long locks? Or does he benefit more from his current neat and tidy conservative short cut? Does hair make a difference in the Presidential race? These are good questions that can only be answered with some hard core experiments.
I decided to do "instant makeovers" on George and Al. There is nothing like a new do to get a different perspective. Using my newest toy from YM, I opened up the Digital Makeover Magic software and loaded George and Al in as new models.
George W Bush Goes Blonde I decided to do identical hair makeovers on both George and Al. Since 2000 is the year of the blonde spiked do, I decided to pop a Ricky Martin blonde spike onto George and Al and then compare the results. I added dark glasses (same shape) for both guy.  While George naturally has great hair, I think the heavy gray coloring makes him look a lot older than he is. Of course the thought that George would ever wear a spiked anything is highly unlikely. If George loses the race he should definitely not consider this new look (to the right).
The spiked blonde do makes George's face appear longer and thinner and the blonde color subtracts years from his face. Unfortunately the style also makes him look more aloof and even a little on the sinister side (sorry George). The Ricky Martin look is definitely not a conservative Frat boy style and probably not a hit with George.
Al Gore - A New Career As A TV Hottie  While I personally think that George has better overall hair than Al but both left John McCain in the hair dust. Al wears his hair very conservative and short and I have yet to see any hints of gray. Since Al used to favor longer hair in his college days he might be more open to doing the Ricky spiked do.
To be fair I used the very same spiked image from the YM imaging software on Al that I used on George. Due to the shapes of their faces the spikes sit a little differently on each candidate's head.  I personally think that Al looks really great with the blonde spike. He could easily take on a steamy role on Ally McBeal or be the hot new resident on ER. The glasses and the spike make him look young, sexy and more slender. If Al doesn't move into the White House I hope that he considers this do and a new career as a hot TV hunk.
Can he act? Who cares, he looks great with his makeover.
Conclusion Does hair matter in a Presidential race? Of course it does. Image is everything and hair makes up a big part of that image. President John F Kennedy was noted for this thick shock of curly brown hair. President Clinton, while fighting rumors of current hair loss, has always been applauded for this thick wavy hair over the past 7 years. Hair matters. No matter what. Lucky for makeover crazy me, this race has two candidates with lots of great hair makeover potential. In fact, I am already thinking how great they might look in a special Mohawk for St. Paddy's day. Stay tuned. There may be more than green beer at the Hair Boutique on March 17th. |