Conservative 'Mallard' Comic Predicts Kerry Victory

By: Dave Astor The conservative "Mallard Fillmore" comic, in a sequence starting today, is predicting John Kerry will be elected president.

This doesn't mean cartoonist Bruce Tinsley wants this to happen. "If weathermen forecast hurricanes, it doesn't mean they're in favor of hurricanes," quipped the King Features Syndicate creator during an E&P interview this morning. "A prediction is not an endorsement."

Tinsley said he did the Kerry strips -- which will run for at least two weeks -- for several reasons. He noted that Kerry could very well win, given that some overconfident George W. Bush supporters may not vote and because of the continual bad news coming out of Iraq.

The cartoonist, who had doubts about the Iraq war from the beginning, added that he's always been frustrated about doing his comic near a presidential election. Tinsley creates "Mallard Fillmore" about two weeks before publication -- meaning that, every four years, he has to "fudge" about which candidate might win. "This time, I decided to go ahead a pick a winner," he said.

What happens if Kerry does triumph? "I'll look really prescient," replied Tinsley, who'll have a Democrat in office who's fun to caricature and easy for the cartoonist to criticize. If Bush wins? "I'll look really stupid," Tinsley said, adding that, if this happens, he might "come up with some way to get out of" the Kerry prediction in the comic. Perhaps making everything a dream sequence?

Tinsley plans to vote for Bush, with reservations. The cartoonist won't mind if the current sequence jars more people into casting their ballots for the incumbent.

It's too early to know what newspaper and reader reaction will be to the Kerry sequence, said Tinsley, but he does expect some people to accuse him of being a "turncoat." One person who's happy about the sequence is Tinsley's wife, Arlette, a Kerry supporter who's as liberal as her husband is conservative.

"Mallard Fillmore," which reached its 10th anniversary with King this June, runs in more than 400 newspapers.