Have You Heard the One About the Guy Who Runs for President?

March 30, 2007 — -- Running for president can be serious business; it can also be seriously funny.

Facing crowds with pressing questions and a press distracted by a crowded field, several presidential contenders have stock jokes at the ready -- they're a good way to loosen up potential supporters and distract from uncomfortable topics.

Humor Over Hubris

Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico touts his resume as a former congressman, ambassador, Clinton Cabinet member, then often jokes as he did to a recent gathering of the International Association of Fire Fighters, "There are a lot of Democrats running for president. I want to tell you that I think all of them could serve enormously well in the White House" -- beat for emphasis -- "as my vice president."

Richardson, perhaps the most candid and comedic among the Democratic crop, also jokes, "As President Clinton used to say, 'Bad guys like Richardson,' so we'll send him," referring to past negotiations with communist countries such as Iraq, North Korea and Cuba.

"Humor shows intellectual honesty," said Mark Katz, the founder of the Soundbite Institute and a former writer for President Clinton's humor-laced annual speeches to the Washington press corps.

"The power of jokes is that they speak the subtext of things that go unsaid and acknowledge things that go unsaid -- things that get left out of the conversation."

Republican and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, currently leading most national polls, frequently deflects conservative doubts about his moderately social views with a wink and smile, rather than a protracted debate.

Speaking to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in March, "America's Mayor" joked, "We don't all agree on everything. I don't agree with myself on everything," deftly addressing conservatives' concerns without getting bogged down in the details.

According to Katz, a candidate's ability to use humor in a speech "shows they are not afraid of their own thoughts."

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the 62-year-old first-time father and presidential candidate, certainly isn't afraid of sharing his thoughts on Iraq, taxes or lighter topics such as dirty-diaper duty.

"I am probably the only candidate who gets mailings from the AARP and diaper services," Dodd frequently declares to the delight of parent-filled audiences.

Diapers, or perhaps more specifically, a joke about the candidate as just a regular parent, are commonplace on the campaign trail.

Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., whose youthful appearance belies his 53 years, often said in 2004, during his first run for the Democratic presidential nomination, "I'm up. It's about 2 o'clock in the morning. I've got one dirty diaper in one hand, a clean diaper in one hand, and my wife come walking through the room and she leans over and whispers in my ear, 'You don't look too sexy right now.'"

The Sound of Silence

As any comedian will tell you, everyone has an off night but there's perhaps nothing worse than a joke falling flat.

The race's only Mormon, former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, told a Catholic-filled St. Patrick's Day breakfast in 2005 that he believed, "Marriage should be between a man and a woman and a woman and a woman," referring lightly to his church's past acceptance of polygamy.

Romney drew some criticism for the comment, and he has refrained from using the joke lately.

"Politicians intuitively understand that humor is a risk-reward effect," said Katz, noting that a joke gone bad could do more harm than good to a candidate's image.

Sen. John Kerry's, D-Mass., infamous 'botched joke' in October 2006 about President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq was not well-received.

Kerry told a California audience shortly before critical midterm elections, "Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

The incident -- which made national headlines and forced Kerry off the campaign trail -- may well have contributed to his decision to forgo the 2008 presidential race.

Katz says, "Each candidate has the opportunity to use humor, but some have more to gain [than] others."

Campaigns -- and their candidates -- strive for the right balance: funny without losing gravitas; presenting character without becoming a caricature.

And keeping in mind it's always best to be telling jokes rather than becoming the object of them.