Cracks appear in NASCAR voters' Republican loyalty

[deadparrot]

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Travis Johnson is just the type of voter the Democratic Party hopes to win back in its effort to gain control of Congress in the November election.

Baking in the sun at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 23-year-old Danville, Illinois, resident wears a black T-shirt sporting NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson's face. The fan looks like the epitome of the young, white, socially conservative, working-class voters who have been key backers of Republicans in the last decade.

But with U.S. soldiers dying in Iraq, war raging in the Middle East and gasoline prices soaring, he is not sure how he will vote.

"For the most part, I'm a toss-up. I'm not dedicated to either party," Johnson said earlier this month as he and 270,000 other fans waited for the start of the Allstate 400 race organized by NASCAR, the official body for stock-car racing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060817/pl_nm/nascar_dc

[arcane1]

1. ooh, rate this one up!!!

[NewYorkerfromMass]

43. So long as they are not pro-life Christian fundies

they are reachable, and potential Democratic votes.

[acmejack]

2. NASCAR Voter is a misunderstood demographic.

That sport is a lot more technological than the average non NASCAR fan appreciates. I have been a gearhead type my entire life and a NASCAR fan in particular since 1984. It's a wider more diverse group than one might think.

[enid602]

4. NASCAR

I don't think the NASCAR dads of 2004 really knew they supported the Religious Right when they voted for Bush.

[acmejack]

5. Not from some of the parties I've seen in the infield!

[Kolesar]

15. Show us your piston rings, baby!

Do you mean parties like that?

[eridani]

22. To me it seems an awful lot like bike racing

It's perfectly plain why people want to do it. I just don't get why other people want to watch them. I enjoy reading the strategic analyses of Tour de France stages, but no single observer standing by a country road in France can possibly see all of that whole. To me, watching occasional riders zip by is about as entertaining as watching paint dry.

[JohMunich99]

27. It's a party, a reason to celebrate

For starters, people don't pay to watch cyclists go by. It's free. For many of the French towns, it's THE thing to happen in that month if not year. Who passes up an excuse to get together with friends and family, have some drinks, and live a little?

[eridani]

33. Well, that makes more sense

One of these days I'd like to to RAGBRAI, which is apparently a big party that moves from one end of Iowa to the other.

[1932]

23. 75 million people watch & attend NASCAR events.

It's definitely a diverse group.

[hippiechick]

3. He's not sure ?

... get a Recruiter to start calling his undecided 23-year-old ass every day and offering him a one way ticket to Eye-Rack and then we'll see which way he wants to vote.


:freak:

[saigon68]

46. Then he can KILL a few Islamofascists

[skids]

6. K&R. As goes NASCAR, so goes the red states. n/t

[young_at_heart]

7. Republican operatives worked very hard to portray Dems as wimps

The Nascar people were targeted by big money groups to make it a sign of weakness to vote Democratic. This began during the Reagan years and has escalated into quite a unified attack.

[snowbear]

8. Mark Warner will likely reel in NASCAR votes..

As owner/founder of Nextel, he sponsors NASCAR, he's worked with them on several programs during his time as Governor of Virginia, and Slate Magazine says of him "he can talk NASCAR without getting laughed out of town"


He's one of the Democrats that can definitely work that cirquit..

[1932]

24. ...or whover hires Steve Jardine and Dave Saunders in '08

since they're the ones who created Warner's NASCAR appeal.

[JohMunich99]

28. NASCAR viewers are not a voting bloc!

That's like saying, we need to get those hockey voters or poker voters.

[BigDDem]

9. Get 'er done!

[Lochloosa]

10. LEFT TURN!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

11. On the other hand...

The staunchest critic of Dear Leader I know, around here and life-long Dem is also a Life Member of NHRA.

Are drag racing fans smarter? ;-)

[Lugnut]

12. Not really

A lot of NASCAR fans are just as smart. That would include me and most of my family members. ;)

NASCAR is not a strictly Southern sport anymore and hasn't been for a long time.

[Courtesy Flush]

13. Was that a non sequitur?

"NASCAR fans are smart. They're not all from the South."

As A Southerner, I'm curious whether you intended it to come out that way. :eyes:

[Lugnut]

30. No it wasn't.

It was a separate sentence and comment in a new paragraph. No offense intended.

[MasonJar]

14. I have to question that also. As a Kentuckian (who cares nada

about NASCAR, but would love to see the fans vote for a president, congressperson with their best interest in mind), I pretty much do NOT like to be referred to as dumb.

[Craig3410]

16. The PGA Tour, however...

remains, AFAIK, completely Republican.

Can someone name one Democratic PGA Tour Golfer?

[LordLovesAWorkingMan]

17. Rich racists

Good thing Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer ever...he has to be to be tolerated on the lily-white PGA Tour.

But I don't know of many Dems who follow the PGA Tour, and anyway a NASCAR event draws 200,000 fans as opposed to
about 30-40,000.

[KamaAina]

18. Fred Funk

he even makes jokes about being basically the only Dem on tour.

[jakefrep]

47. I believe the commissioner of the PGA Tour, Tim Finchem, is a dem...

...that worked in the Carter Administration.

[KamaAina]

19. Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his entire crew watch F9/11

oddly enough, since then, he has been a non-factor in the Nextel Cup standings... :tinfoilhat:

[Ragin_mad]

21. Well, 2 43rd place finishes in a row

are not exactly helping him either.

[JohMunich99]

29. 43rd place finishes? I think that is a sign....

He really supports Bush.

[Ragin_mad]

37. Naw, the problems were mechanical

Well, sort of mechanical. One was from going into turn 3 and running out of talent, and the other was due to an engine failure.

[MrCoffee]

20. Read "Foxes in the Henhouse"!!!!

This is a vitally important story. The Democrats CAN WIN in the South! Do NOT ignore the southern states!!!!

[calimary]

25. What concerns me, and does NOT make me feel either satisfied,

OR excited, OR relieved, is how this guy claims he's a "toss-up," doesn't know how he's gonna vote. Frankly, guys, what that tells me is that this is a guy who's gonna waffle all year and, at the last minute, when he's actually INSIDE the voting booth, he'll just shrug, say "oh, fuck it," and vote republi-CON AGAIN. Because that's probably been his pattern. He's liable to break on the side of "better the devil you know." Some people like this are just simply loathe to change routines. And if they're used to voting republi-CON, that's going to be a VERY hard habit to break. I don't trust guys like him to be TRULY among the converted. He's still sounding too noncommittal for my comfort. It's the ones who say "SCREW these people! I've seen enough! It's time for a CHANGE!" - THOSE are the people in whom I have confidence. Their souls really are saved. This guy - eeeeahh, I don't know. And I expect guys like him to be lazy about following the issues and not seek out the real truth and just listen with half-an-ear to the talking points he's used to hearing, and then cop out at the eleventh hour with one of those pathetic, weenie excuses - "aw, hell, they're all alike. One's the same as another..." and vote republi-CON again. I'm not a bit convinced by testimonials like his. Nor do I count him among the awakened. Can't really count on him, PERIOD.

[hedgehog]

26. I think a lot of Democrats write off the South because so many

white Southerners went over to the Republicans when the Voting Rights act finally went through. Nixon's Southern strategy may or may not have started that way, but when Reagan held his first campaign event in the home of the KKK, there was clearly an attempt to appeal to those who preferred the good old days. Democrats need to understand that white Southerner is not a synonym for white racist. White Southerners need to know that the Democratic PArty s[peaks to their real concerns; jobs, health care, serious honest national defense, etc.

[JohMunich99]

31. Perhaps we could start by not making NASCAR a synonym for white Republican

Just a thought....

[stlsaxman]

36. But they ARE White Republicans....

but let's hope the "chink in their armor" continues to grow.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

32. Just when the GOP thought it couldn't get worse!

It seems like everybody is jumping off the GOP bandwagon (if the news reports are as accurate as they appear to be). Yesterday, it was the "security moms" and today it's "Nascar voters." If these kind of stories continue and the GOP somehow STILL manages to eke out a victory in the mid-term elections, I don't know if there will be any hope left for our party or our country whatsoever. I remember stories like this coming out during the 2004 election although these voters were trending towards Bush if I remember correctly. I'm "cautiously optimistic" about our prospects in the upcoming mid-term elections. I haven't seen such a long stream of bad news for Bush and the GOP since...........ever. Looking back to 2005 though, Bush's (marginal) "victory" over Kerry turned out to be a rather pyhrric victory for him and the GOP and they have fast been losing steam ever since. The failed Social Security privitization effort, Terri Schiavo, and Iraq have become albatrosses around the necks of the GOP and will, hopefully, after 12 long years of GOP dominance, finally do what the Democrats seemed unable to do:bring them down. The entire GOP agenda seems to have been boiled down to a stale rehash of the 2004 Presidential campaign of overwrought FEAR of terrorism, which finally SEEMS to be abating somewhat throughout the public.

[OregonDem]

34. Its not that I dislike NASCAR cause I associate it with Republicans,

its cause I don't consider it a sport. I mean is driving fast really a sport? What kind of athleticism does it take to drive in a circle?

[Bombero1956]

35. What kind of athleticism does it take to drive in a circle?

there's more to athleticism than hitting a ball or running up and down a field. Do you consider golf a sport? Most of the time golfers ride a cart from hole to hole. A study found race car drivers on an oval track like Nascar's sustained heart rates of 120 to 150 beats per minute. About the same level as a serious marathon runner for about the same length of time. A driver can lose 10lbs during the course of a race.

[Kolesar]

40. Pulse goes up and reactions are tested in a video game, too

Although I am sure that driving an automobile is more taxing because the driver has to turn the wheel, and lean and react.

[file83]

42. In NASCAR there are hours of enduring G forces around those turns...

...non-stop vibration, road/engine/wind noise, heat (fire proof suits are hot), and the stress of knowing that if you screw up, you could hit the wall at 160+ mph and end up engulfed in flames and wreckage with the possibility of taking out other racers in the process. Video games, you just respawn and take a sip from your diet coke.

I got lectured once from a friend who watches NASCAR. Just thought I'd pass on the lecture to you :-)

I, for the record, am NOT a fan.

[obietiger]

39. I'm a democrat that loves the races

To be a NASCAR driver, you need to be in good shape. Driving 400 or 500 miles (especially in very hot temps) takes a toll on your body. And you really need to have an alert mind - one miscue and you can have a very bad day. Mark Martin was probably one of the first drivers to start working out so his body was strong and now many of the drivers work out.

[sidpleasant]

41. re: "is driving fast really a sport?"

Of course it is. It's a competition between humans. Race car drivers at the highest levels are incredibly fit athletes. For example David Coulthard of the Red Bull Formula 1 team has a resting heart rate of 40 beats per minute and his pulse rises to 198 beats/minute during a 2 hour race, comparable to an elite marathon runner. Coulthard must maintain intense concentration during a race (at 150MPH he's covering 220 feet every second) while subjected to severe physical strain while his adrenalin pumps constantly. An F1 driver is subjected to as much as 4Gs in corners and he can lose up to 3 kilos during a race. Coulthard does cardio training for 4 hours a day and his body fat ratio is 7%.

Make a serious error in a baseball game and the worst that happens is that your team loses. Make a serious error in a race and you might pay for it with your life.

[MrCoffee]

38. kick

[stop the bleeding]

44. NASCAR fans voting republican is like a chicken voting for Col. Sanders

:)

[quaoar]

45. Kick