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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Please can someone help me understand the references to coattails and coatanchor in the following sentence (from an article published in July 1996)? They don’t seem to be part of the UK’s political lexicon – are they commonly used in the political arena in the USA?
“No matter how big Mr. Clinton's landslide may turn out to be, he has few true believers, and therefore has no coattails with which to drag in a Democratic Congress. … Mr. Dole doesn't have coattails, either; however, he has a coatanchor, and his submergence alone may be enough to sink the Republican Congress.”
I have read this whole article but am still puzzled and although I have a guess, it doesn’t seem to fit into the context of the article. I can see that people can be swept along and benefit by clinging to Clinton’s or Dole’s coattails, but if this is the reference then I can’t see why a lack of ‘true believers’ means that they wouldn’t have any coattails and the reference to a coatanchor leaves me baffled!
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Coattails is a metaphor for one candidate being given an advantage by being associated with another, popular candidate. The image is of one candidate sliding into office by riding on the coattails of the other, more surely electable, candidate. The candidate riding on the other's coattails is generally more local, e.g., a Democratic gubernatorial candidate riding the coattails of a popular Democratic President. Coatanchor should now be obvious if you understand my hack definition and is therefore left as an exercise for the interested student.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
coattails effect (noun) -
1. (politics) the consequence of one popular candidate in an election drawing votes for other members of the same party.
"he was elected senator on the president's coattails"
Source: WordNet ® 1.7, © 2001 Princeton University
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Not so much chopping my liver as packaging it and giving it a brand name.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
packaging it and giving it a brand nameIt tasted the same but was less environmentally friendly. Mind you, coming from that source, the brand name gives it a lot of credibility! 
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Ooow, chopped liver and lacking credibility
i'd say you've been dissed!
david!
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