A Goat Mayor? That's Nuts! Also Dogs, Cats and a Mini-jackass

July 20, 2012 -- There is a political debate that Americans simply need to have. Who will you cast your vote for? Cats or dogs … or mules or goats …?

By now we've all met Alaska Mayor Stubbs, who we figured was unique because he was a cat. But not so. There's a town in Kentucky with a mayor who is a dog. In fact, this red and white border collie is the third consecutive canine to hold the mayoral seat of Kentucky's small city of Rabbit Hash.

Mayor Lucy Lou took office in 2008 succeeding the late Junior Cochran, a black Labrador that was mayor from 2004 to 2008. Lucy Lou won out in 2008 against a spaniel, a cat and a mini jackass in 2008.

We know what you're thinking- a jackass as mayor? That's insanity. Maybe. But it's not unprecedented. In September 1938, a mule named Boston Curtis won the post of Republican precinct committeeman for Milton, Washington. The mule was victorious by virtue of 51 votes cast in the state primary election. Impressive win for an equine, no? Though the turnout should not have come as a shock since Boston Curtis ran uncontested, many of the residents of Milton were in for a big surprise when they found out that the newly elected committeeman was a mule.

The nomination of the four-legged "politician" turned out to be a hoax conducted by Milton's Democratic mayor, Kenneth Simmons. The mayor brought the animal down to the courthouse where he had Boston Curtis' hoof print stamping the required documents to run for the seat.

Another unconventional politician, this one with cloven hoofs, was a goat named Clay Henry the III. The farm animal was elected mayor of Lajitas, Texas, in 2000, following local tradition since that originated in 1986. The two previous mayors, as well as Clay Henry III's successor, were also goats. Each of these "politicians" gained fame and notoriety primarily for drinking beer.

However, the third goat mayor, Clay Henry III, was the most controversial. In 2006, a townsman named Jim Bob Hargrove became outraged when a resident, who asked him for a brew, fed the goat mayor one of his last beers. The town's sheriff, Ronny Dodson, explained to ABC News that the region's blue laws prevent alcohol sales on Sundays. "He was mad that the guy wasted one of his perfectly good beers on the mayor," he continued, "so he just went ahead and castrated him with a paring knife."

"I still have his balls sitting in a cabinet in my wife's veterinary office" the sheriff proclaimed. "People still come down to see them all the time." Dodson explains that people were outraged by the castration. "Residents were furious about what had happened. Some of them even wanted Hargrove hung."

The mayor's castrator got off easy, according to the sheriff. He was acquitted of his animal cruelty charge. Thankfully, the willful politician pulled through his brutal attack and filled out his mayoral term.

Bestial competition is not only subject to local politics. The residents of Virginia have forged against the political norm to elect a cat named Hank to their senatorial seat. Though the effort is valiant, Hank's Senatorial run is technically invalid as the U.S. Senate requires that its candidates are at least 30 years of age and must provide documentation of their American citizenship.