The three events described here illustrate the pull of empathically charged political performances, a pull that invites repetition. Many national politicians have visited Appalachia, an area long impacted by poverty, out-migration, and the effects of absentee ownership in the coal mining industry. Since President Johnson declared the War on Poverty from a front porch in Martin County, Kentucky, in April 1964, eastern Kentucky has served as a popular backdrop for staging political messages about economic disparity in the USA. Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Paul Wellstone, Jesse Jackson, and John Edwards have all included Kentucky in their so-called "poverty tours." But of all of these men, it is Robert Kennedy who is most remembered in Kentucky. Undoubtedly, this has much to do with the iconic status of the Kennedy family, as well as the timing of his visit. Robert Kennedy announced his bid for the presidency only one month after visiting Kentucky, and he was assassinated less than three months later, cementing the memory of his visit with that of his death.