by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
An old friend of mine who served a few terms in the Missouri Legislature used to offer this political advice: "If you want to pick apples, you go where there's apples." What he meant by that was a politician should search for votes in areas that are heavily populated by his party. If you're a Democrat, don't spend a lot of time and money trolling Republican areas - put your resources in the areas where your natural constituencies are more apt to be.
(I've matured since then and try not to associate with anyone who would even briefly contemplate serving in the Missouri Legislature. Life is too short to waste any time rubbing elbows with knuckleheads!)
But my friend was right and proved it (three times, I think) by getting himself elected as a Democrat in what was traditionally a Republican district. He identified the Democratic neighborhoods and picked his apples with a vengeance!
Today there was an article at politico.com which discussed the importance of the votes of NASCAR fans, a group that publication contended numbers 75,000,000 - which sounds a might high to me, an admitted non-NASCAR fan. And while that figure is likely to be a bit of boastful fiction generated by NASCAR corporate offices, even if nearly a quarter of all Americans (which number over 313,000,000), are NASCAR fans, many of them are undoubtedly children and adolescents without voting rights - and more than a few would be prison inmates, also without voting rights - but I digress.
That article in Politico suggests that NASCAR fans "skew" white, middle-class, and southern, a demographic that ought to lean strongly Republican. Obviously a black intellectual would have trouble finding apples in that type of orchard. But the article also noted that Mitt Romney will not easily translate into an "icon" of the NASCAR culture either. (The Mittster has trouble identifying with people who work.)
Several conservative groups are focused on NASCAR fans, encouraging them to register and vote, and then hopefully turn out on election day to do the right (wing) thing by casting their apples at Republicans.
The Democratic National Committee is also making a play for support from NASCAR. Not only has the party scheduled it's national convention for Charlotte, North Carolina, a traditional NASCAR stronghold, it also has a fund-raiser going that offers donors a chance at a sponsorship slot on a racing car at the Charlotte Speedway on September 3rd for as little as a five-dollar donation. ("Pa Rock" would look really great flying across the finish line!)
Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, a Democratic operative, said in the article that Democrats should not cede the NASCAR vote to Republicans, but he did caution that neither Obama or Romney will ever be a great fit with the NASCAR culture, and they should therefore not put too much presence into NASCAR events because doing that would look phony.
Mudcat may need to rethink that analysis. Mitt Romney, after all, has "some great friends who are NASCAR team owners." Why someday after he leaves the White House, Mitt might even buy a couple of NASCAR teams himself - then rob them, ship their jobs overseas, and send his obscene profits off to Switzerland for safekeeping!
It's the American way.
Citizen Journalist
An old friend of mine who served a few terms in the Missouri Legislature used to offer this political advice: "If you want to pick apples, you go where there's apples." What he meant by that was a politician should search for votes in areas that are heavily populated by his party. If you're a Democrat, don't spend a lot of time and money trolling Republican areas - put your resources in the areas where your natural constituencies are more apt to be.
(I've matured since then and try not to associate with anyone who would even briefly contemplate serving in the Missouri Legislature. Life is too short to waste any time rubbing elbows with knuckleheads!)
But my friend was right and proved it (three times, I think) by getting himself elected as a Democrat in what was traditionally a Republican district. He identified the Democratic neighborhoods and picked his apples with a vengeance!
Today there was an article at politico.com which discussed the importance of the votes of NASCAR fans, a group that publication contended numbers 75,000,000 - which sounds a might high to me, an admitted non-NASCAR fan. And while that figure is likely to be a bit of boastful fiction generated by NASCAR corporate offices, even if nearly a quarter of all Americans (which number over 313,000,000), are NASCAR fans, many of them are undoubtedly children and adolescents without voting rights - and more than a few would be prison inmates, also without voting rights - but I digress.
That article in Politico suggests that NASCAR fans "skew" white, middle-class, and southern, a demographic that ought to lean strongly Republican. Obviously a black intellectual would have trouble finding apples in that type of orchard. But the article also noted that Mitt Romney will not easily translate into an "icon" of the NASCAR culture either. (The Mittster has trouble identifying with people who work.)
Several conservative groups are focused on NASCAR fans, encouraging them to register and vote, and then hopefully turn out on election day to do the right (wing) thing by casting their apples at Republicans.
The Democratic National Committee is also making a play for support from NASCAR. Not only has the party scheduled it's national convention for Charlotte, North Carolina, a traditional NASCAR stronghold, it also has a fund-raiser going that offers donors a chance at a sponsorship slot on a racing car at the Charlotte Speedway on September 3rd for as little as a five-dollar donation. ("Pa Rock" would look really great flying across the finish line!)
Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, a Democratic operative, said in the article that Democrats should not cede the NASCAR vote to Republicans, but he did caution that neither Obama or Romney will ever be a great fit with the NASCAR culture, and they should therefore not put too much presence into NASCAR events because doing that would look phony.
Mudcat may need to rethink that analysis. Mitt Romney, after all, has "some great friends who are NASCAR team owners." Why someday after he leaves the White House, Mitt might even buy a couple of NASCAR teams himself - then rob them, ship their jobs overseas, and send his obscene profits off to Switzerland for safekeeping!
It's the American way.
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