Talbot: Dog days in Fairhope

FAIRHOPE - America wants Willie Bean.

How else to explain the sensation surrounding Willie, whose improbable run for mayor of this Alabama coastal town has become a national phenomenon?

On Tuesday morning, the calls and e-mails were pouring into his campaign headquarters from all corners of the country. Supporters in Oakland, Boston, Indianapolis and Atlanta were ordering Willie Bean T-shirts. Interview requests were coming from radio stations in Iowa, Alaska and Tennessee. A producer for David Letterman wanted a photo.

The candidate took the publicity in stride, napping on the kitchen floor and later chasing a tennis ball in his backyard. Willie Bean Roscoe P. Coltrane is a 7-year-old yellow Labrador retriever. His owner is Fairhope artist Tress Turner, who manages a local coffee shop that doubles as Willie’s election office.

His campaign began as a lark. No less than seven people are running for mayor in the Aug. 26 election. Fairhope, on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, is as laid-back as towns get, but money and a few sharp elbows thrown by the candidates have combined to give the race a big-city edge.

The political hardball hasn’t played well in a community known more for its flower boxes, antique shops and Southern charm. In response, Turner and friend Beth Goldberg, owner of the Coffee Loft, taped a photo of Willie on the espresso machine. “Willie Bean for Mayor,” someone scribbled beneath it.

Customers chuckled. A bigger sign was posted. The Press-Register’s Virginia Bridges and Josh Bean (no relation) wrote stories that got picked up by the Associated Press. From there it hit the Internet, where it ran wild. Now Willie Bean T-shirts are outselling the lattes, Turner is answering fan mail from Sweden and local cats are nervous.

“I can’t explain it. But I look at him and think, ‘It couldn’t happen to a nicer dog,’” Turner said.

Willie can’t win ? he missed the July 15 registration deadline ? but that hasn’t discouraged his supporters.

“He doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet,” said Vince Kilborn, a local lawyer and Coffee Loft patron. “He ate them all.”

Willie isn’t the first dog to run for office, and election officials have come to expect write-in votes for everyone from Forrest Gump to Santa Claus. Voters in Picoaza, Ecuador, elected a foot powder for mayor in 1967.

But Willie’s appeal is bigger than dog-friendly Fairhope. The national attention suggests something deeper at work.

“Voters are stressed out,” said David Lanoue, a political science professor at the University of Alabama. “We’re at war, we’re still worried about terrorism, and now the economy is bad. It’s a very serious time, and that’s wearing on people.”

Lanoue said even the most devoted political junkies have grown tired of the current presidential campaign. America, he said, is hungry for comic relief.

“Willie may be connecting with people who have grown cynical about politics,” he said. “You know, a dog is faithful. A dog is loyal. A dog never misleads you. That’s more than a lot of politicians can say.”

(Political Editor George Talbot can be reached at 219-5623 or gtalbot@press-register.com.)