First Lady Bake-Off

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The First Lady Bake-Off, renamed the Presidential Cookie Poll in 2016, was a baking competition held by Family Circle from 1992 until 2016 between the spouses of leading presidential candidates. It originated after Hillary Clinton made a political gaffe which was interpreted by some as disparaging baking or housewives. The competition later became known for frequently mirroring the results of presidential elections. It was canceled after Family Circle went out of business in 2019.

History[edit]

Background[edit]

The competition was inspired by a political gaffe made by Hillary Clinton in 1992 during her husband Bill Clinton's presidential campaign. In response to questions about her career and the Whitewater controversy,[1] she stated that "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life".[2] These remarks were controversial, and were perceived by some as a slight on housewives.[3][4]

Clinton in 1992, the year of the first bake-off.

Seeking to capitalize on the controversy, the magazine Family Circle came up with the idea of a cooking contest between the wives of presidential candidates.[5] The competition gave potential First Ladies the opportunity to publish cookie recipes in the magazine, which its subscribers would then bake and vote for their favorites.[6] The winning recipes were announced in October, ahead of the presidential election.[7]

Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, said that Clinton's remarks "stepped outside the bounds of what was seen as the traditional role of first lady, potential first lady [...] the price she paid was being placed in the midst of a cookie bake-off."[8] Kelly Faircloth of Jezebel attributed the backlash towards Clinton's comments and the success of the contest to contemporary anxieties about the increasing number of career women.[9] According to media science professor Tammy R. Vigil, media coverage of the bake-off portrayed the women participating as adhering to traditional gender roles and published anecdotes about their domestic lives that contributed to this image.[10]

Clinton reportedly took the competition seriously and enlisted friends to help her with baking,[11] as a way to recover from the gaffe and make herself appear more traditional.[12] Clinton won the competition against her opponent Barbara Bush. Bush later wrote that her recipe had been borrowed from a housemate.[13]

2004 election[edit]

During the 2004 US Presidential election, Laura Bush's cowboy cookies beat Teresa Kerry's pumpkin spice cookies. Kerry told NPR and The New York Times that she disapproved of the recipe and suspected one of her staff of purposely sabotaging her by submitting an unappealing recipe.[14] She further stated that she did not like pumpkin cookies and had never made them before.[15] Kerry's office claimed that they had originally submitted a recipe called "Yummy Wonders" which was rejected by Family Circle, and one of her staffers submitted pumpkin spice cookies as a replacement without consulting her. Kerry's press secretary Marla Romash corroborated her statements, saying that "If you tasted those [pumpkin] cookies, you'd think someone was trying to do you harm, too."[15]

2008 election[edit]

Cindy McCain's Oatmeal-Butterscotch cookies beat Michelle Obama's shortbread cookies[16]during the 2008 US presidential election, although McCain was accused of plagiarizing her recipe from a packaging for Hershey's.[17][18] This marked the first time in the contest's history that the results differed from the presidential election, as John McCain lost to Barack Obama.[19]

2016 election and 2020 cancellation[edit]

Chocolate chip cookies won the competition most years.

The competition was renamed the "Presidential Cookie Poll" during the 2016 US presidential election, when Hillary Clinton was the Democratic presidential nominee against Donald Trump and her husband Bill was in the running for First Gentleman.[20] Bill Clinton submitted the same chocolate chip cookie recipe as Hillary had in previous years.[8] His decision to repeat his wife's recipe was criticized by The Atlantic,[21] although he won the competition.[20]

The bake-off was canceled in 2020, after Family Circle went out of business in 2019,[22] meaning that Jill Biden and Melania Trump did not compete against each other during the 2020 US presidential election.[20]

Results[edit]

Election year Winner Other contestants Matched electoral results Refs.
2016 election Bill Clinton – chocolate chip cookies Melania Trump – star sugar cookies No [20]
2012 election Michelle Obama – white and dark chocolate chip cookies Ann Romney – M&M cookies Yes [23]
2008 election Cindy McCain – oatmeal-butterscotch cookies Michelle Obama – shortbread cookies No [17]
2004 election Laura Bush – cowboy cookies Teresa Kerry – pumpkin spice cookies Yes [24]
2000 election Laura Bush - cowboy cookies Tipper Gore - ginger snap cookies Yes [25]
1996 election Hillary Clinton – chocolate chip cookies Elizabeth Dole – pecan roll cookies Yes [25]
1992 election Hillary Clinton – chocolate chip cookies Barbara Bush – chocolate chip cookies Yes [3]

Reception[edit]

The competition has been criticized by some commentators for being regressive, demeaning,[26] and promoting sexist stereotypes about women's roles.[27][28][29] Faith Salie of CBS called it "retrograde tradition that began either with sexism or irony".[30]

Comparison to electoral results[edit]

The competition became known for often predicting the results of the presidential election,[31][32][3] with its results matching the outcome of five out of seven elections.[20] The streak was first broken in 2008, when McCain's cookies beat Obama's.[19] Various commentators identified key ingredients whose inclusion made it more likely that a cookie would win the competition, such as chocolate[33] and oatmeal.[34]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ By (November 13, 2000). "LOVE HER OR HATE HER, HILLARY IS ONE TOUGH COOKIE". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  2. ^ "Working Moms, First Ladies and Recalling Hillary Clinton's 'Baking Cookies' Comment". ABC News. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "How the cookie crumbles: the great first lady bake-off". The Independent. June 20, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  4. ^ "The TIME Vault: April 20, 1992". TIME.com. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  5. ^ Keith, Tamara (August 18, 2016). "Cooked Up After A Hillary Clinton Gaffe, The First Spouse Cookie Battle Is Back". NPR.
  6. ^ "Courting the cookie vote: Obama vs. Romney in the presidential bake-off". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  7. ^ "The First Lady Cookie Contest has been canceled indefinitely". TODAY.com. September 3, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Cooked Up After A Hillary Clinton Gaffe, The First Spouse Cookie Battle Is Back". www.wbur.org. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  9. ^ "The Serendipitous Death of the First Lady Cookie Bakeoff". Jezebel. September 4, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  10. ^ Vigil, Tammy R. (January 23, 2019). Moms in Chief: The Rhetoric of Republican Motherhood and the Spouses of Presidential Nominees, 1992–2016. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-2748-6.
  11. ^ Burros, Marian (July 15, 1992). "Now Is the Time to Come to the Aid of Your Favorite Cookies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  12. ^ Chait, Jonathan; newsletter, who’s been a New York political columnist since 2011 He writes the; c. (June 27, 2012). "Michelle Obama, Ann Romney Forced to Share Recipes". Intelligencer. Retrieved June 20, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Heil, Emily (October 28, 2021). "The traditional presidential cookie contest is off — but many 'first lady recipes' have long been bogus". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  14. ^ "Let Them Eat Pumpkin Spice Cookies". Independent Women's Forum. October 5, 2004. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  15. ^ a b Burros, Marian (July 28, 2004). "UNIFYING THE PARTY: THE CANDIDATE'S WIFE; Mystery Ingredients: Heinz Kerry Disavows Cookie Recipe". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  16. ^ "Election Prognosticators - TIME". Time. November 3, 2008. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  17. ^ a b "Election Prognosticators – TIME". Time. November 3, 2008. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  18. ^ Locker, Melissa (October 2, 2012). "Michelle Obama Wins Critical First Lady Cookie Contest". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  19. ^ a b Testa, Jessica (October 2, 2012). "Can A Cookie Contest Predict The Election?". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  20. ^ a b c d e Bennett, Kate (September 1, 2020). "Political tradition crumbles as the first lady cookie competition ends | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  21. ^ Graham, David A. (August 18, 2016). "Bill Clinton's Half-Baked Entry in the Presidential Cookie Contest". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  22. ^ Settembre, Jeanette (September 2, 2020). "First lady cookie contest comes to an end after 7 election cycles". Fox News. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  23. ^ Patriot-News, The (October 8, 2012). "Michelle Obama wins Presidential Cookie Bake-Off by 287 votes". pennlive. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  24. ^ Young, Bev (2005). Presidential Cookies: Cookie Recipes of the Presidents of the United States. Presidential Publishing. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-9729095-5-6.
  25. ^ a b "Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies". Southern Living. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  26. ^ "Michelle Obama vs. Ann Romney: The 'demeaning' cookie bake-off". The Week. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  27. ^ "Sexist "First Lady Bake-Off" still occurs since cookies can allegedly predict the election". Mic. August 22, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  28. ^ Purdy, Chase (August 21, 2016). "The blatantly sexist cookie bake-off that has haunted Hillary Clinton for two decades is back". Quartz. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  29. ^ "Why the Hell Are We Still Holding First Lady Bake-Offs? Stop It. Stop It Right Now". Jezebel. October 3, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  30. ^ "Faith Salie on the Presidential Cookie Bake-off – CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. October 16, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  31. ^ "A cookie bake-off among US First Lady contenders is a bellwether indicator". The Economic Times. October 4, 2012. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  32. ^ "Ann Romney, Michelle Obama face off in cookie contest". TODAY.com. June 26, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  33. ^ Burros, Marian (July 2, 2000). "It's Ginger vs. Chocolate in the Presidential Cookie Race". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  34. ^ Friedman, Marcelle (July 2, 2012). "Why Michelle Obama's Cookie Recipe Will Lose Her Husband the Election". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
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