viz.

During this campaign season it's enlightening to recall a little history.

This was one of William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt's 1900 presidential campaign posters for a race they won handily. (McKinley was assassinated in 1901, so it was T.R. who followed through.) Note the parallels to today's political situation. The McKinley ticket is running on its record, which includes industrializing the nation, establishing financial stability, and freeing Cuba from Spanish rule. (You'll note that no reference is made to the Philippines, a less swift, clean, in-and-out kind of imperial project.) The before and after images create a straightforward visual argument about the progress that has been made under Republican rule, and McKinley and Roosevelt's brave-looking visages straddle the center of the poster. Ethos is established via their record, here visually depicted as an undeniable march toward better days. The argument? Vote for us, and we'll keep going forward together.

The issues in the 2008 campaign aren't much different: we're talking job creation, economic prosperity, financial soundness, and the success of our overseas ventures (undertaken, as the poster insists, "for humanity's sake"). But today the Republicans can't fall back on their record to convince voters that they're the safe bet.