In Wake of Election, Atonen, Lukas Trade Looks

What a difference an election makes! Heading into the March 4 parliamentary elections, Reformierakond politico Meelis Atonen, a Viljandi native and father of two who recently turned 40, was still brandishing his anti-establishment locks as a symbol of how, like hair, the economy grows best naturally, with as little input from the state as possible.

Then all of a sudden, he's Mr. 40 -- the 70s meets 00s look sent out to pasture. I wonder if his gesture of getting a haircut was part of an alterior motive to score points with the short-haired Prime Minister Andrus Ansip. I expect to see a photo of Atonen with his sleeves rolled up, ready to get to work, any day now.

But what's this? Tõnis Lukas, the 44-year-old Isamaliit candidate, Tartu representative, and father of three has decided to trade in his older, more conservative image from the days when he was haridusminister, for something that makes him feel more free, more alive, more youthful -- and if you want to win in Tartu, you've got to get those student votes.

So new is Lukas' look that few photos exist online of his growing mop of hair. He hasn't entirely moved into replace Atonen's shag in the absence of its place in the Riigikogu. Instead, he's grooming more of an 19th century, Romantic awakening look.

Lukas wants you to see him living here in Tartu, cavorting with Lydia Koidula and Carl Robert Jakobson. He's 70s alright, 1870s. Perhaps his alterior motive in pursuing this new look is that Ansip would mistake him for Atonen, and therefore give him a portfolio in the new government that was intended for Atonen all along.