Rob Rogers got his first real taste of presidential campaigns in his 8th grade civics class. His family had just moved from a liberal neighborhood in Philadelphia to the red state of Oklahoma. It was 1972 and his teacher asked everyone to choose a side to campaign for in their mock election. While most of his classmates chose to campaign for the incumbent Republican, Richard Nixon, Rogers sided with George McGovern. "I've been siding with left-leaning losing Democrats ever since," Rogers laments.
Most would consider Rogers, who is paid to express his own opinion, a liberal cartoonist. But to be fair, his cartoons ridicule Democrats and Republicans alike. Just ask former president Bill Clinton. Rogers has covered (re "sketched") every presidential convention since 1988. That was the year when George H.W. Bush chose Dan Quayle as his VP. And they say no news comes out of the conventions. That was the best news in the world for editorial cartoonists!