Meet Stump, the latest cat running for purr-esident

Most days, Stump stays busy greeting guests or taking naps on the floor of his owner’s pet store. But for the last few weeks, the gray Munchkin cat has been pursuing a more audacious goal: running for president.

Owner Denise Rachiele, 50, hadn’t thought about entering Stump into the presidential race, though Rhode Island’s former governor Lincoln Chafee and Ohio Gov. John Kasich had their campaigns headquartered nearby.

But when Trump’s campaign moved in two doors down from her Warwick pet store in early April, Rachiele, 50, conferred with the would-be cat-didate and decided he would run. She posted a photo of Stump with a patriotic bandana covered in fireworks. “STUMP FOR PRESIDENT!” she wrote. “He has a vision!”

Customers started telling her, “I’d vote for Stump instead of Trump.”

In the next few days, a campaign platform emerged. Stump helped legalize catnip, Rachiele wrote on Facebook, “which brought much needed revenue to the country and just a happy attitude all around.” He started making campaign promises: “Naps in the workplace for better productivity!”

He even parodied the more famous candidate’s cat-chphrase by vowing to “make hair great again.”

But Stump the candidate has his flaws too, Rachiele said. “He lives in a pet store: he steals. That’s his downfall.”

Stump isn’t the only pet to make a bid for the White House. Fellow feline Limberbutt McCubbins, 6, of Kentucky announced her run for president by submitting a statement of candidacy to the Federal Election Commission, Politifact reported. A Louisiana crawfish also announced its bid for the presidency last May, starting a Facebook page to see if it could get more supporters than former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who made his own short-lived bid for the Oval Office.

Their candidacies are unlikely to go anywhere: The FEC requires candidates fundraise or spend at least $5,000 to be considered official contenders.

Still, Stump has drawn media attention, with a visit from a New York Times reporter ahead of Rhode Island’s primary Tuesday, and Rachiele is hopeful his fame might lead to bigger opportunities, she said.

“Stump would just like to be on Ellen or Jimmy Fallon,” she joked.

Phones were ringing non-stop at her pet store Monday morning, she said, from the local paper and friends who had seen her on the news.

But no one from the Trump campaign has made a comment since the signs went up in her windows.

“There’s plenty of people coming in picking up signs,” she said. “But oddly I’ve not heard a word. I’m not really sure what that means.”

“I don’t really care,” she added. “Politics makes people ugly and this is making people laugh.”

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 11:15 AM with the headline "Meet Stump, the latest cat running for purr-esident."