Election-time trio of exhibits on display in Texarkana

(AP) — If "politics ain't beanbag," as the saying goes, then the reality seems to be that political jousting is a time-honored tradition in our body politic.

While the current presidential election campaign in the U.S. may be knuckle-dragging its way through the pit of incivility, politics has always been ripe for tough talk, satire and ridicule.

In the same breath, editorial cartoons stir the pot and prime the pump of political banter and water cooler conversation.

The Texarkana Gazette (http://bit.ly/2bwc4Uv ) reports that historically, modern political cartoons became a gung-ho indicator of the fractious nature of politics during the rise of newspapers, whether they've skewered the people involved or taken a hatchet to issues contested.

Two temporary Texarkana Museums System exhibits showcase political cartoons, one at the PJ Ahern Home and another at the Ace of Clubs House.

Political Cartoons and Election Memorabilia from the TMS Collections includes original cartoons that depict Patman, a Democrat who staked his claim to popularity here by fighting as a populist for the common worker.

Candidates, Campaigns and the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman features one of the deans of the modern editorial cartoon in Berryman, a Pulitzer Prize winner.

The MoRH's exhibit includes permanently displayed artifacts from Patman's office (his desk from his Washington, D.C., office, for example) and political ephemera like presidential campaign buttons.

Dating from 1925, it includes information on the poll tax, which limited democratic participation in the voting process.

Drawing from the TMS archives, the exhibit includes campaign buttons, too, plugging presidential candidates like John W. Davis, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Alfred Smith and others.

Cartoonists in Arkansas employ pointed humor in dealing with political and social realities, of course, such as one cartoon displayed at the Ahern that depicts what appears to be a government official declaring, "What, you mean there's gambling going on in Hot Springs?"