Back when political coverage was still civil and decent, it was tradition to wait a few days before noting that a recently-announced presidential candidate's campaign logo resembled that of a major toothpaste brand, or that his campaign slogan was first used seven years ago by an unsuccessful presidential nominee from his home state. It's an era Mitt Romney and his advertising gurus are undoubtedly pining for Monday afternoon after the relentless scrutiny their campaign imagery has attracted in the hours since Romney announced the formation of his presidential exploratory committee.

The logo

New York magazine's Dan Amira was the first to note the similarities between Romney's campaign logo and that of Aquafresh. A side-by-side comparison:

Those do look similar. But why? "Probably so that every time you brush your teeth, you'll associate that fresh, clean feeling with the fresh ideas and clean break with the past that Romney will bring to Washington," suggested Amira.

The slogan

What's wrong with Romney's campaign slogan, "Believe In America"? Lots of things. For starters, Politico's Ben Smith notes that John Kerry--an unsuccessful presidential candidate from Massachusetts people also thought to be a bit stiff--already used the slogan for the August leg of his cross-country tour in 2004. "If there's one parallel the wealthy Massachusetts politician whose foes are already waving online flip-flops doesn't particularly welcome," writes Smith, "it's to Kerry." The editor running the HuffPost Hill Twitter feed, meanwhile, was more take by the slogan's blandness, joking that the more predictable slogan for a would-be GOP frontrunner would be "Eagle Fireworks 9-11 Thanksgiving Handgun Football Chef Salad Explosion."

We were just shocked nobody noticed that Romney had ripped off the opening line from The Godfather.

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Ray Gustini