1909: William Taft sings “Get on the Raft with Taft.”
1972: George McGovern plays Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
1988: George H.W. Bush selects Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.”
1992: Bill Clinton belts out “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac.
1996: Bob Dole is rebuked by Bruce Springsteen when he plays “Born in the USA” at campaign events; the Boss does not endorse Dole. Dole picks “Soul Man” and is threatened with legal action by the song’s license-holders, who do not endorse Dole. He changes his song to “Dole Man.”
2000: Al Gore picks Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.”
2004: George W. Bush picks Brooks & Dunn’s “Only in America” ... as in, where in the world would voters choose such a man to lead? John Kerry picks Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender.”
2007: Chris Dodd’s campaign chooses The Temptations’ “Get Ready”; John Edwards chooses John Mellencamp’s “Our Country.” Hillary dives into generation YouTube by asking voters to choose her song for her. The choices: Shania Twain’s “Rock This Country”; U2’s “Beautiful Day”; Smash Mouth’s “I’m a Believer”; KT Tunstall’s “Suddenly I See.” Obama says he will not choose a campaign song.
