Election Day and Halloween are coming soon

Election Day has long had the indignity of falling soon after Halloween, providing obvious opportunities to recast political hobgoblins as "real" ones and to make comparisons between politicians and other unholy creatures. In this political cartoon from the Nov. 1, 1914 Los Angeles Times, California's reform-minded governor, Hiram Johnson, is bedeviled by a host of issues. Despite the frightening cast of characters around him here, Johnson easily won re-election two days later, getting nearly twice as many votes as the next runner-up.