FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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This new Biden cartoon captures the shift in the Democratic race - and is now a bumper sticker

This new Biden cartoon captures the shift in the Democratic race - and is now a bumper sticker

The inspiration struck Mike Luckovich in the middle of the night with a rare clarity. Hours earlier, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution political cartoonist had been watching the Super Tuesday results roll in, as former vice president Joe Biden took the delegate lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Now, about 3 a.m., Luckovich woke up with the thought: "Biden" sounds somewhat like "Bye Don."

"I got so excited I had to go have a drink of wine," the left-leaning cartoonist said of the anti-Trump idea.

Often, such middle-of-the-night concepts don't look so good in the cold light of morning. But this idea still seemed to work when he awoke Wednesday.

"It's been kind of difficult satirizing Trump lately," he said, "so it was great to be able to come up with an idea that was kind of unique and that I wouldn't have to struggle."

Luckovich's wife saw an early sketch that morning and said she would love to have it as a bumper sticker.

The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner got into the newsroom about 9 a.m. and was done drawing the final cartoon about an hour later. "In all the years of my career," he said, "I've never done a drawing so quickly."

Luckovich posted the image online about 10:30 a.m. Soon it was shared widely on Facebook and Twitter.

The common reaction, he said, was: "I need a bumper sticker of this."

"I went and talked to my wife about making" merchandise, he said. It seemed like too much for him to take on, but some enterprising business partners started a website to sell "Bye Don" items after Luckovich got permission from his paper.

"It's time to tell Don Bye," says the website.

Luckovich - who has met Biden once, at a Washington event - said he is thrilled with the reaction, noting that he plans to vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is, though his first choice had been Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Luckovich said he is reflective of the voters who believe "We have to get rid of Trump. Let's find someone safe whom we're used to."

 

 

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