National Radical Meadow Party

Infobox Fictional Political Party
party_name = National Radical Meadow Party
party_articletitle = National Radical Meadow Party
party_logo =
appears = Bloom County
leader = ?
members =

• Limekiller (nominated for office of president)

Bill the Cat (also nominated for the office of president)
ideology = Political radicalism
position = unclear, apparently Radical left
colours =
motto = "Bill + Opus:This year, why not the worst?"

The National Radical Meadow Party (sometimes known as the American Meadow Party or simply the "Meadow Party"') was a fictional political party from Berkeley Breathed's 1980s comic strip "Bloom County".

The 1984 Election

Initially, the Meadow Party was unsure of who to nominate for the 1984 ticket. Early suggestions included Elizabeth Dole, Mr. Spock, John Glenn, and Erik Estrada. Portnoy later remarked that the party should have nominated Jesse Jackson and Jesse Helms for the ticket ("Let's alienate everybody!").

At caucus time, the party nominated Bloom County resident Limekiller for the office of president, and the reluctant Opus the Penguin for the office of vice president (he was almost dropped from the ticket in favor of Barbara Jordan).

However, the choice of Limekiller for the Oval Office turned out to be a short-lived one, as the party dropped him from the Meadow ticket after he made an off-color remark ("We have a black, a woman, two dips and a cripple") about his campaign committee (parodying the comment made by Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt about one of his committees). He was replaced on the ticket by the deceased Bill the Cat.

The convention was held in San Francisco, and televised by MTV to the music of Judas Priest (CBS, NBC, and ABC had all declined, and the press apparently had not even been notified that the Meadowcrats existed). On the way to the convention, Opus spilled the beans on Bill's "ugly, sordid private life" to Bob Woodward, who would release a tell-all book about Bill mid-campaign, (entitled "Frazzled: The Sordid Life Death, and Rebirth of Bill the Cat"), done in the style of Woodward's real-life exposes. A three-week long series of Sunday strips based on the book (the first featuring interviews with Mickey Mouse, Charlie Brown and Opus, all with their respective faces censored), was used to explain the events described below.

Bill later came back to life and reappeared following the convention. Held at the same time as the Democratic convention, the party picked up one delegate from the Democrats who preferred to nominate a dead cat rather than Mondale. Afterwards, the Meadow Party continued campaigning as usual. They even went so far as to attempt to gain endorsement from singer Michael Jackson. At one point, after the party's funds had become non-existent, Milo Bloom organized a benefit concert that included groups such as Culture Club, Van Halen, and The Police. On another occasion, Opus appeared in a campaign commercial that showed pictures of Mondale and Regan in "close association with Madalyn Murray O'Hair and Fidel Castro, respectively; however the photos had been tampered with, originally showing Mondale with Bullwinkle J. Moose and Regan with a character from "The Addams Family".

Tragedy struck on Election Day when Bill ran off to join a Rajneeshee Cult (Binkley apparently thought this would "win them big points on the religion issue", pointing out that Regan didn't even attend church). The Meadowcrats lost the election.

The 1988 Election

While the results of the previous election were disastrous for the Meadow Party, the 1988 campaign turned out to be more rocky. Even the local cockroaches turned out to heckle the candidates.

Bill, who had once again been nominated for the presidency with the slogan "This year, why not the worst?", spent most of the campaign in an alcoholic coma (or, as Milo referred to it, in a "religious fervor"). This left the vice presidential candidate, Opus, to seek endorsements from special interest groups such as the NRA; the American Association of P.O.'d PTA Parents; and the United Cocaine Producers, Smugglers, Pushers and Affiliated Scum.

After receiving dead flowers from ex-lover Jeane Kirkpatrick, Bill was shaken out of his coma long enough to go on a shooting rampage using a machine gun donated to him by the NRA.

The Meadow Party spent a large portion of the campaign at the bottom of the popularity polls, ranking just behind the likes of Spuds MacKenzie, George H. W. Bush, and Gumby.

Mid-campaign, Opus was accused of being a liberal. Bloom County lawyer Steve Dallas argued Opus' case before a Senate committee, but Opus ended up being labeled a liberal anyway. The Meadow Party had no choice but to drop him from the ticket.

Shortly before Election Day, as the party was up forty percent in the polls, a tell-all book about Bill's many lives was released. This came as a sharp blow to the Meadowcrats.

Fortunately, just days before the election, Walter Mondale contacted the party and offered to join the ticket for a much-needed boost. The offer was accepted, and the Meadowcrats had a Bill-Mondale ticket.

Milo, desperate for a Meadow Party win, secretly contacted CBS News on Election Night, and tried to discredit Bush and Dukakis, but to no avail. The Meadow Party lost its final election.