By Joel Schlosberg

Larry Penner vouches that "the Democrats could run Mad magazine's 'What, Me Worry?' Alfred E. Neuman for president and still carry the Empire State by a wide margin" ("True blue New York," Queens Chronicle, August 27). That's a harsh assessment ... of Neuman. Unlike Democratic politicians in solidly blue states, or Republicans in their red-state counterparts, he had real rivals to contend with.

For decades, the dimwitted mascot of the irreverent humor institution risked losing customers to comparably foolish competitors, like Cracked magazine's Sylvester P. Smythe and Sic...