could not get elected dogcatcher

Meaning: (idiomatic,chieflyUS,politics,hyperbolic)Said of someone, particularly apolitician, who isextremelyunpopular.[from late 19th c.]1889February 18,Chicago Herald, quotee, “Unpopular with rascals”, inThe Courier-Journal, volume LXXIV, number 7,355 (New Series), Louisville, Ky.: Louisville Courier-Journal Print. Co.,→ISSN,→OCLC,page 4, column 6:An insolent Republican newspaper asserts that Mr.[Grover]Clevelandis so unpopular in Washington that hecould not be elected dog catcherfor the district. This may be true, yet Mr. Cleveland has caught a great many dogs in his day—stealing. His success in that line would naturally make him unpopular with the claims agents and other parasites that throng the capital.1918October 15, “The City Manager Plan.[Condenst Paragrafs.]”, in J. W. Scroogs, editor,University of Oklahoma Bulletin(New Series; no. 156; University Extension Series; no. 43), Norman, Okla.:University of Oklahoma,→OCLC,page60:It is a well known fact that the average American town will not elect well educated men to municipal offices if they can help it. A man who wears kid gloves and a plug hatcouldn't be elected dog catcherin any town in Oklahoma. That is why the affirmative wish the city manager to be elected by a commission.2006October, credited toRobert Ludlum, chapter 15, inThe Bancroft Strategy, New York, N.Y.:St. Martin’s Press,→ISBN,page264:Men like himcouldn't get elected dogcatcher. He was a natural lieutenant, not a leader, and it was a fact he accepted with neither bitterness nor regret.The title page of the work states: “Since his death [in 2001] the Estate of Robert Ludlum has worked with a carefully selected author and editor to prepare and edit this work for publication.”2010September 12, Philip Eliot, “GOP Tries to Take Out Tea Party-backed Candidate”, inYahoo! News‎[2], archived fromthe originalon22 September 2010:"She[Christine O'Donnell]'s not a viable candidate for any office in the state of Delaware," said the state party chairman, Tom Ross, who is backing[Mike]Castle. "Shecould not be elected dog catcher."2017October 25, John L. Micek, “Trump just keeps digging deeper and deeper”, inThe Courier-Journal‎[3], Louisville, Ky.:Gannett,→ISSN,→OCLC:[Donald]Trump, who has a glancing relationship with the truth and speaks English only as a second language, has hurled his insults at[Bob]Corker(whom he saidcouldn't get elected dog-catcherin his home state) and at[John]McCain– even as he journeyed to Capitol Hill to try to build support for tax reform.

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