About that name — plus, Geoghegan limericks!

Perhaps the number one question that we get asked around these parts is, “How in the world does Tom Geoghegan pronounce his last name?”

Well, it’s easy to say, but hard to spell.  You pronounce it “gay-gun”: which, as Hendrik Hertzberg observed, “suggests a talent for coalition building.”

One of us here at the campaign asked some Geoghegan supporters if they could come up with a simple slogan that demonstrates how to pronounce Tom’s name.  While we haven’t found anything that works for us yet, we did end up getting something wonderful in return: Geoghegan limericks! They’re a lot of fun, so we wanted to share them with you.

To start with, here’s one that was penned by Brian Cook:

There’s a place where corporate crooks are ragin’
Filled with people more slimy than Fagin
The name for this mess
Is the U.S. Congress
Which is why we need Candidate Geoghegan.

Mr.  Cook also contributed the following:

Want a Rep. who’ll rattle the cages
And won’t try to hit on House pages?
It’s quite plain to see
You should vote for Tom G.
The man who will raise all our wages.

David Greenberg submitted this one:

If you’re Christian or Jewish or pagan,
Whether you favor Obama or Reagan,
A successor to Rahm?
Pull the lever for Tom.
It’s as easy as saying, “Vote Geoghegan!”

Katha Pollitt,  who is among other things a highly distinguished poet, and who  in her Nation column this week endorsed Tom’s candidacy,  made this brilliant contribution. To understand this one it helps to know that Tom is not married.

Said a lovely young lawyer named Megan
“In politics, singlehood’s plaguin’.
I know you’re not geogh
so let me set the deogh,
and marry you, candidate Geoghegan!”

Brian Beutler weighed in with the following (people named Brian seem to really have a knack for this whole limerick business):

There once was a candidate Geoghegan
Whose name rhymed quite oddly with “pagan”
He battled the rich
And Blagojevich
Like Martians they fled from his raygun.

Mr. Beutler  also contributed a haiku:

Vote for Tom Geoghegan.
That’s only five syllables
Can you believe it?

Anonymous, that most prolific of authors, wrote the following:

Oh why should the workers go beggin’
With promises CEOs are reneging?
To put things back in balance
One guy’s got the talents:
Want change? Then let’s vote for Tom Geoghegan!

Anon is also responsible for this:

Many candidates vie on the North Side
But only one inspires progressive pride
His name is Tom Geoghegan
It rhymes with Reagan
But don’t worry–he’s on your side

This final contribution was penned by Calvin Illin’ (can you tell that that’s a pseudonym?):

What candidate would never engage in “pay to play”?
Would worry about the poor and unemployed more or less all day?
Would, upon witnessing corruption, never look the other way?
Tom Geoghe
And for what candidate would good wages be job number one?
Who is stalwart and prudential, never leaving work undone?
Yet enjoys life’s lighter side–a smile, a joke, and even an
occasional pun?
Tom Gan.
And yet, these two fine men
Arrive rolled into one
Tom Geoghegan

Submit your own Geoghegan slogan, limerick, haiku, sonnet, or what you will, in the comments.