Why Chose the Lesser Evil?
Many believe the great evil one would make a fine presidential candidate, or at least better than what the popular choices are. One would always know what his intent was; the total destruction and enslavement of mankind. He keeps things simple that way.

For those unfamiliar, Cthulhu is a mythical character of pure evil, dreamed up by author H.P. Lovecraft around the turn of the 20th century. If Cthulhu were to run for president, it would have likely been in the early 1900's, so I wanted the costume to reflect the fashion of a presidential candidate of that time period.

Step 1: The Mask

The most iconic feature of Cthulhu are the octopus like tentacles that dangle from his face. To replicate these, I knew I would need to make a mask, but there were a couple consideration that I needed met.

1) I had to be able to wear my glasses, unobstructed and without fogging,
2) I needed to be able to converse
3) arguably the most important, I needed to be able to drink!

After exploring some options with store bought masks, I decided to get a little more ambitious and make my own using a clay sculpt and liquid latex. I followed this instructable by alexthemoviegeek to build the mold and pull the latex mask.

I then trimmed and stuffed the tentacles with pillow batting, and painted it with latex paint, diluted with alcohol, in an airbrush. The paint did eventual start to flake off, so if you are looking for a more permanent coloring option, look elsewhere.
The mask is held on by an elastic strap and Velcro around the back of the head.

Step 2: The Coat

The long coat, a staple of men's fashion around the turn of the century, proved to be a little difficult to find, so, in keeping with the ambition of the homemade mask, why not sew my own?

I have made a separate instructable showing the steps involved here.

Make a Long Coat from a Modern Suit

Step 3: The Rest of the Ensemble

A suit worthy of a presidential candidate is far more than just a coat, so to complete the look I added a vest, tie, cumber-bun, pocket watch chain, slacks and a top hat.

The vest started as a generic black vest, which I then embellished with fancy old style buttons and sewed on lapels cut from the pant cuff of a pair of women's pants.

The top hat is a basic Halloween store cheapy that I added a silver satin ribbon to to dress it up a bit.

Step 4: Buttons!

What presidential candidate worth their snot doesn't have campaign buttons! I knew my costume was a hard sell to the unfamiliar masses, so wanted to add buttons that would not only act as a name tag, but instantly transform the costume from "guy in a suit" to "presidential hopeful".

I drew up some artwork, printed them on adhesive vinyl, mounted them to some scrape plastic, and hot glued safety pins to the back.

Step 5: I'd Vote for Him!

Finished! Please vote for me.

See what I did there, vote, because he's a candidate, but also because this instructable is entered in the Halloween contest...