Post-election etiquette

After the 2004 election, I heard a lot of criticism from DFLers about these:

wbumpersticker.jpg

“The election is over,” they’d say, suggesting that Republicans kept the bumper stickers on their cars to rub the Democrats’ noses in it.

So this picture on MPR’s Midday Web page today….

… leads to the obvious question: How long do Democrats intend to keep their bumper stickers on their cars?

The Web site MaverickLabel.com characterizes people and their bumper stickers:

The Gloating Winner – For them, politics is a contact sport and their candidate just brought home a Super Bowl trophy stuffed inside of the Stanley Cup.

The Bitter Loser – a close cousin to the Gloating Winner, except, you know, without the winning part.

The Terminally Lazy – Come November, when the leaves have started to fall, this person can’t seem to find the energy to scrape the sticker off. Often, they couldn’t find the energy to vote either.

The Angry Loser – Unlike the Bitter Loser, this one wants to distance themselves from their former-candidate.

The Neat Freak – As the name suggests, this person does not like having untidy things, like bumper stickers or even parking passes, on their car. However, because they are a good patriot and they needed to protect democracy, they did display a bumper sticker for at least Election Day

The Hipster – This person doesn’t so much take their political stickers off, as covers them up. Now that the election season is over, it’s time to add a new layer of stickers to the back of the old Jetta comprised entirely of bands with three word names or weird animal-adjective combinations.

As for lawn signs, that question is easier. State law requires them to be removed 10 days after the election, even if there’s a recount underway.