The background image is of Aldai Stevenson as an “axeman” chopping down trees in the “Petrified Forest.” The latter pokes fun at the Democratic vice-presidential nominee’s age (65 years old), while the former reminds voters of his tenure as first assistant postmaster general during the first administration of President Grover Cleveland (1885-1889). As a key source of political patronage, the Post Office was a major battleground in the fight over civil service reform (merit appointments and tenure). While a top postal official, Stevenson fired 40,000 Republicans and replaced them with Democrats, provoking angry Republicans and independent reformers to label him the administration’s “axman” or “headsman.”