It’s been said
that burros, beans and brawn won the West. Now, organizers of the
Democratic National Convention are weighing whether iconic images
of the Old West should be used to market the event in Denver this
summer. The debate is not without significance. Democrats, who have
been unable to gain a foothold in Southern states in recent
presidential elections, have begun portraying the West as the
“New South.” And donkeys have an honorable history in
both the West and the South.
The donkey has been
associated with the Democratic Party ever since Andrew Jackson, a
Southerner, adopted it as a symbol when he ran for president in
1828. Originally assigned to Jackson by the opposition in an
attempt to brand him a jackass, Jackson turned the icon to his
advantage and won the presidency by a large margin. By the late
1800s, the donkey was firmly established as the party’s
official symbol.
In this spirit, Democratic leaders at
the National Western Stock Show in January chose a donkey to serve
as the official mascot for the convention. The selection of a burro
called “Mordecai,” owned by sometime Democratic
political candidate Curtis Imrie, brought lots of media attention.
Those of us who know donkeys — I’ve raised and
trained several over the last quarter-century, but hesitate to use
the word “owned” — know that their stubbornness
isn’t just obstinacy; it’s caused by the human’s
failure to grasp their intelligence and cautiousness. Donkeys also
can be quick and strong, and many possess an uncanny courage and
endurance — all necessary qualities for any candidate.
The Democratic National Convention will take place within weeks of a competition that features donkeys — the 60th running of the
World Championship Pack-Burro Race in Fairplay, Colo. This race of
man and beast, which has been held every July since 1949, is a
29-mile trek from the tiny town of Fairplay to the summit of
Mosquito Pass and back again. Racers and their burros encounter
3,000 vertical feet of climbing, rocky roads, icy streams, spongy
tundra, a rough-and-tumble trail up a talus slope, and little
available oxygen. It’s been called the “World’s
Longest, Highest, Roughest, Toughest” race, which makes it
sound a lot like this endless contest for the Democratic nomination
for president.
The Democratic Party chose well: Mordecai
won this race in 2006. Yet the Denver Post recently called into
question the use of such Western icons like Mordecai in promoting
the Democratic Convention. Dean Singleton, publisher of the Post
and chief executive of MediaNews Group Inc., reportedly threatened
to yank financial support from a media-welcoming party before the
convention. The reason? Some organizers, including the rancher and
Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, D, proposed a cattle-drive parade to
kick off the convention, and others are considering holding an
exhibition rodeo during the event. Singleton himself may be
involved in ranching, but he’d rather not give the media its
first impression of Denver as a cow town.
But if Denver
isn’t a cow town, exactly what is it? The city was founded as
a mining and ranching center. Wash away that history and, frankly,
a rural guy like myself might see a smoggy, sprawling metropolis
with no apparent point to it at all. Or perhaps Denver has become
the center of oil and gas well drilling, and a plume of smoke could
be the convention’s symbol.
Meanwhile, in Fairplay,
where pack-burro racing was born to commemorate the burro’s
role in helping settle the West, Dale and Kathy Fitting, owners of
the Hand Hotel, have sweetened the purse this year with a couple of
thousand dollars of their own money. The Fittings’ generosity
underscores an understanding of the Western culture represented by
these animals and this peculiar event.
It also represents
the acceptance of the burro in both the Old and New West, where
many people have gained a modern appreciation for these animals not
only as good pets, but also as sturdy backcountry packers and
saddle animals.
Our changing Western culture brings us to
the ultimate irony in all of this: No burro cares about political
parties or elections or Western lore. The donkey simply focuses on
the task at hand, whether it’s grazing, packing a load,
defending its territory, or simply basking in the spring sunshine.
If Democrats can muster the beans and the brawn, the right burro
could carry the nominee across the West and back to the White
House.
Hal Walter is a contributor to Writers on
the Range, a service of High Country News
(hcn.org). He is a journalist, six-time world champion pack-burro
racer, and the author of Pack Burro Stories. He lives in
Westcliffe, Colorado.
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