Tennessee congressman offers cash for yard signs

NASHVILLE (Reuters) - Democratic Representative Jim Cooper, who handily won election to a fourth term last week espousing a "penny-pinching" platform, is buying back his campaign's yard signs to deploy in the next race.

"It's a great way for everyone to be green and save green," Cooper said on Wednesday. "People can make a little money while cleaning up in their neighborhoods and this helps our campaign save money. These signs are expensive to produce and now we can reuse them."

The Nashville Democrat, a part-time business professor at Vanderbilt University, will pay 25 cents for a small sign and up to $5 for a large version.

He said he hoped fellow politicians will follow his lead to clean up after their campaigns. "Campaigns all across the country would benefit from having a yard sign bounty," he said.

(Reporting by Tim Ghianni; Editing by Andrew Stern and Jonathan Oatis)