This episode's feeble attempt to try to be nonpartisan and/or not root the plot in any real world analog didn't really work in 1990. And it doesn't work in 2021. Burns eventually became canonically a Republican and it is clear that writers intended that to be the case in this episode. Likewise, Marge and Bailey are clearly meant to be Democrats. I wish the the show was just explicit on this point. Anyone who cares about this sort of thing isn't going to be fooled. That coupled with plot resolution being forced-no campaign would allow Marge to pull her shunt and no way would they be blindsided by it!-is why this episode loses a few points.
It is however striking that Burns-like the obvious parallels of Charles Foster Kane, Willie Stark, and Stark's real-life counterpart Huey Long-cynically plays the role of being concerned with the common man's plight in a failed bid to screw over said common man. This theme is more fully realized in other media and it isn't full spelled out in this episode but wow for a 23 minute cartoon sit-com the writers managed to work in a lot of commentary and cynicism about our system. This episode plays a lot darker post-2016 then it did for the years prior.
It is however striking that Burns-like the obvious parallels of Charles Foster Kane, Willie Stark, and Stark's real-life counterpart Huey Long-cynically plays the role of being concerned with the common man's plight in a failed bid to screw over said common man. This theme is more fully realized in other media and it isn't full spelled out in this episode but wow for a 23 minute cartoon sit-com the writers managed to work in a lot of commentary and cynicism about our system. This episode plays a lot darker post-2016 then it did for the years prior.