Jeff Tocnydlowski, age 11, of New York Mills, New York, for his question:

How did our two political parties choose their animal symbols?

In a presidential election year, the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant make more cartoon appearances than usual. The donkey was adopted by Andrew Jackson, way back in 1828 when his campaigning opponents called him a jackass. The elephant symbol was introduced by Thomas Nast around 1874. This brilliant cartoonist also symbolized the corrupt Tammany organization as a tiger. He also took a friendler moment to introduce our modern version of Santa.

Politics is a fiery topic because it is based on opinions concerning government. This involves large numbers of people, each with his or her own personal point of view on what is best for the rest of us. In civilized countries where we are encouraged to express our personal opinions in these matters, naturally political discussions are highly charged with strong emotions. What's more, detailed political essays often are hard to follow and statements made by the candidates often tend to avoid the facts we really want to know.

In every generation there are a few outstanding political cartoonists. With a simple sketch, they can reveal the core of a complex issue, scaling its fiery fury down to a mere sting, often funny or downright ridiculous.

Thomas Nast was famous for this useful talent. Born in Bavaria in 1840, he came to the United States at the age of six. Though he is listed as an American cartoonist, actually he belongs to the world because he traveled to make his sketchy observations in London, Paris and Italy. Most of his work was done in his adopted country where his cartoons appeared in Harper's weekly and other popular publications. In the 1880 's he resurrected and popularized Andrew Jackson's adopted donkey as the symbol for the Democratic Party.

In the early 1850s, the Republican Party was organized by people who were strongly opposed to Slavery. Nast supported the views of this political party. In 1874 he pictured Republican voters as a sturdy elephant, indignantly rousting smaller animals representing inflation and various political abuses. The young Republican party adopted this elephant as their political symbol. Nast popularized both the donkey and the elephant and later cartoonists carried on the symbols.

Some people assume that our two modern political parties date back to the Founding Fathers. But in those days, Hamilton's Federalist Party was opposed by Jefferson's Democratic Republican Party. Some Democrats date their party back to Jefferson, though many political experts say it stemmed from Andrew Jackson. The two original parties splintered during the early 19th century and the new anti slavery Republican Party was strong enough to elect President Lincoln. Through the years, the policies of both parties have changed with the times, but their animal symbols survived.