While Republicans from around the country gather in Tampa this week, a Burlington designer is looking back on his small but significant contribution to a different presidential campaign.
In the summer of 1992, Doug Dunbebin was a graphic artist living in Beltsville, Md. when he came up with a design and slogan for the Clinton-Gore ticket that would soon catch fire and become one of the iconic images of the 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns.
In June 1992, then-candidate Clinton appeared on the “Arsenio Hall Show” and ripped out a bluesy version of Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” on his tenor saxophone. It was a seminal moment in Clinton’s political career — as Hall remarked afterward, “It’s good to see a Democrat blow something other than an election” — and earned him new found respect and support among young and minority voters.
Within weeks, Dunbebin, then 30, created an electric-blue-on-black illustration (above) of Clinton blowing his sax, below the slogan, “The Cure for the Blues.” He printed the design on a few dozen T-shirts and gave them to friends from the National Organization for Women, who were heading to New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the Democratic National Convention in mid-July.
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What a fascinating piece! Perhaps it would be worth reporting on what this guy has been up to since 1992.
How cool is that! Right here in our little town. Love that design and remember seeing it everywhere. Yes, would be interesting to know more about Doug’s work today.
Uh . . . he’s been engaged in conspiracy theories about 9/11.