A suburban dog has officially entered the presidential fray.
A Labrador candidate from Long Grove, northwest of Chicago, known as Bailey D. Dog, entered the race on Aug. 18. Bailey is listed as an Independent on the Federal Election Commission's Form 2, which is a statement of candidacy, making the dog's run for the presidency official.
Bailey lives with the Rubin family, which includes 14-year-old Jacob and 12-year-old Jonathan. The brothers entered Bailey into the race by filling out his candidate form online.
Although Bailey cannot win the race because he is not human, he can still run and form a campaign to rally voters. Like any serious candidate, Bailey has a website that describes who he is and what he stands for.
"Bailey D. Dog is a Labrador Retriever Mix who is currently seeking the office of President of the United States," a statement on the website reads. "He is 5 years old in human years, which converts to 35 in dog years. Bailey was born in Indiana and was rescued by his campaign manager just days before his planned euthanasia ... Bailey's hobbies include playing tug of war, eating cheese, and barking at trucks/lawnmowers."
True to his roots, the key issues in Bailey's campaign deal mostly with animal issues. His website claims that if Bailey is elected, he will increase federal funding for animal shelters, abolish high-kill shelters, establish universal health care for dogs and reform the U.S. tax code.
The site also includes a standard donation page, but rather than accept funding for his campaign, potential donors are encouraged to give to Placing Paws and Orphans of the Storm animal shelters instead.
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Bailey also has a strong social media presence, with a Twitter following above 600 just one week after creating the account, and he has attempted to engage other candidates in Twitter battles already. On Sunady, he tweeted to Donald Trump, saying he was "proud to be the only presidential candidate supporting free, universal animal healthcare."
I'm proud to be the only presidential candidate supporting free, universal animal healthcare. Take that, @realDonaldTrump! #forwardpawgress — Bailey D. Dog (@Bailey4Prez) August 23, 2015
Bailey has not made it into any official polls, but an unofficial poll on his website shows that nearly 90 percent of those polled would vote for Bailey for president.
