Abstract

Among the NASCAR Dads

The author describes U.S. President George W. Bush's day campaigning among the "NASCAR Dads." As George W. Bush popped into the International Speedway during the granddaddy NASCAR Daytona 500 on February 15 he was careful to not screw up the way Bill Clinton did back in 1992. During his first presidential campaign Clinton was met with a wall of hoots and boos when he tried to make a political speech at a Darlington Raceway NASCAR run. Bush wisely opted instead for the more visceral politics of cultural imagery. First he buzzed the gathered 180,000 stock-car-racing fans with Air Force One and two streaking F-15s. A few minutes later, Bush tickled the crowd by running a lap around the legendary 2.5-mile track in his blacked-out motorcade fleet of spiffy SUVs. Then Bush materialized simultaneously on the speedway stage and on an array of super-sized TV monitors and, dressed in a dark NASCAR windbreaker, carefully limited his words.Bush did pick up nearly 70 percent of the Southern white male vote in 2000. But precisely because of vanishing manufacturing jobs and a war that seems to be draining the national treasury, Democrats think they can bite into the NASCAR vote this fall. Both John Kerry and John Edwards have loudly proclaimed themselves NASCAR fans.