When Hillary Clinton Tested New Slogans — 85 of Them

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/us/politics/hillary-clinton-campaign-slogans.html

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Crafting the perfect political slogan is hard. Writing scores of unmemorable ones? Less so.

Buried in the leaked emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta, is a message from August 2015, when the campaign was weighing a list of prospective slogans for Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy. Some ring familiar:

■Progress for the rest of us. Not quite a “Festivus for the rest of us,” in “Seinfeld” parlance, but in the ballpark.

■Building a better tomorrow. Does not appear to have the blessing of Stephen Colbert’s former “super PAC” — “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow.”

■Go further. A rallying cry on which a Ford branding effort was once premised.

■Renewing our basic bargain. Calls to mind the stay-the-course-but-not-entirely ethos of Selina Meyer on “Veep.” (Her slogan: “Continuity with change.”)

Then there is the final section of the email, under the themed heading “It’s about you,” which — taken as a whole — reads as its own sort of inspirational pop-song stanza.

During the Democratic primary, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign cycled through several taglines — “Breaking down barriers”; “Everyday Americans need a champion”; “Fighting for us”; “Building ladders of opportunity” — betraying a restlessness with its options.

The list from the leaked email does include the campaign’s general election choice, “Stronger Together” — as well as a slightly wordier variation, “Together we’re strong.”

Here is the full collection, broken into eight categories in the initial email: