core constituency?

[j_b]

http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2004/02/thompson-m-02-17.html

 

Shifting Gears

When it comes to presidential elections, there may be more to the NASCAR set than meets the eye.

Matt Thompson

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- President Bush flew to the Daytona 500 on Sunday in Air Force One, and, by all accounts, the people sitting in the grandstands loved him. He "was greeted … by a largely adoring crowd that sees in him the values it holds dear," according to The Washington Post.

 

Many of the race's fans -- including Howard Dean's famously sought-after constituent, the guy with the Confederate flag slapped on the back of his pickup -- shared a distaste for Democrats. For Bob Hargett, who's 57, the Stars and Bars aren't just silk-screened across the back window of his brand-new silver Dodge; they're also tattooed on his left forearm, flanked by the words "Southern Pride." What does he think of Dean?

 

"I can't stand him," he says. "He's a nutcase."

 

Here, even a Wesley Clark endorses Bush. Clark, 22, a physical-education major at Gordon College, in Barnesville, Ga. plans to vote along family lines. "My cousin Corey's serving over there in Iraq," Clark says, "and he has support, and I guess I have support for him. So I'm going to vote for George Bush."

 

A recent ABC News analysis of the exit polls from the 2000 election concluded that the "NASCAR dads" aren't swing voters at all, but, rather, a small and solid part of Bush's core constituency. It may not be worth it for Democrats to pursue these fans, some experts say.

 

Apparently they weren't in Daytona.

 

Just before the race began, people were becoming impatient to get to their seats, and the increased security prompted by Bush's visit was slowing things down. To my left, I heard someone ask, "Who's voting for Bush?" Someone else instantly responded, "Not me." I turned back to see who'd spoken, but I was no match for the hundreds of people behind me pressing onward.

 

Then, suddenly, we stopped.

 

A few feet away, I could see police officers and orange-vested security agents holding the crowd back. It wasn't long before everyone realized we were being delayed until Bush had completed his entrance into the stadium.

 

After only a minute's pause, people started grumbling. Soon, they started yelling at the security detail. A few minutes more and they'd turned their ire on the president himself.

 

"We want to see the race, not Bush!" shouted someone in the crowd.

 

"Why didn't that SOB stay in Washington?" screamed Doug Shelby, the loudest of the voices.

 

This is Bush's base?

 

Tom Kremis isn't sure how he'll vote come November. "I don't know," he says. "I would probably vote for Bush. I did before." The Iraq War and the Medicare bill, however, have worn on Kremis' support for the president. Saddam Hussein, he says, "needed to be taken out, but I don't know if that was the right way to do it."

 

Kremis adds: "As far as Bush and the medicine and so forth, I think I don't know what happened to that."

 

His friend, Donna Call, meanwhile, admits to being impressed with the Democratic candidates. "I will say they have some real heavy shooters right now," she says. "I was really surprised at the whole primary season."

 

Some of the Republicanism here, especially among the younger members of the crowd, could be described as perhaps nothing more than brand loyalty.

 

NASCAR drivers cover every inch of their cars and uniforms with the brands of their corporate sponsors. Diehard fans mark themselves from head to hip with logos and tattoos to show solidarity with those drivers, surrendering every available inch of torso for companies to cover with product names. At any given minute, I'm passed by hundreds of walking advertisements for Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats, M&Ms, DuPont, Sharpie, Winston and Valvoline, among others.

 

To some at the race, "Republican" and "Democrat" are just two more words to add to the list. An enterprising Democratic candidate might woo these fans away from their loyalty to the label.

 

Consider Sean and Sean.

 

Sean Bugg, 22, is rooting for Rusty Wallace in today's race, and wears the jacket of Wallace's sponsor, Miller Lite. Sean Clark, 23, wears a Budweiser jacket in support of driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

 

Miller Lite Sean has the stronger political beliefs of the two, mostly based, he says, on the beliefs of his Republican parents. Budweiser Sean, if he votes at all, will probably vote for Bush, too.

 

"That Bush," Miller Lite Sean says, "he's going to keep shooting straight the whole time, basically. Bush is the one that went over there and handled shit, you know?"

 

"Yeah," chimes in Budweiser Sean, "Definitely handled that."

 

So is there anything a Democratic candidate could say to sway them?

 

"I don't know," Budweiser Sean says slowly, after a moment. "Don't know about that. I'd have to hear him talk first."

 

They're at least open to the possibility of changing their minds about who they're going to vote for. And even at the Daytona 500, a lot of people refuse to be labeled.

 

Steve Carlson, 32, sports no product logos on his clothes. He's not a big NASCAR fan, just someone who came to see if it would be a good show. He didn't vote in the last election, and doesn't know which way he'd have gone if he had. A Democrat could win his vote, he says, by "dropping [the] party nomination and going independent, saying, 'This is what I really believe.'"

 

But that'll never happen, Carlson says, so he'll wait and see if he'll be voting this year.

 

Rosita Navarro plans to vote for "Anybody But Bush." But she hates the terms "Republican" and "Democrat." "I wish there was a Neo-Democrat[ic] Party," she says. "Something new."

 

So perhaps it's not suprising that an impromptu anti-Bush rally brewed, lacking only the picket signs. Doug Shelby was denouncing Bush's policies -- and drawing agreement from the crowd. "We're $500 billion in debt and it's only getting worse!" he shouted.

 

Overhead, Lee Greenwood sang "God Bless the USA." The crowd started chanting obscenities.

 

After LeAnn Rimes sang the national anthem, the crowd above the grandstands started cheering; those below booed.

 

Then Bush's motorcade drove by. One middle finger went up in the crowd, then another, and soon they were everywhere.

 

As the crowd scattered to their seats, one of the few black fans I spotted at the racetrack ran by and saw me scribbling in my notepad. "Writing for a newspaper?" she asked. Before I could respond, she shouted, "Tell them Bush sucks!" Then she disappeared back into the fray.

 

Matt Thompson is a reporting and writing fellow at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

 

Matt Thompson

[catbirdseat]

This is going to be a presidential race in which none of the candidates can take anything for granted. I sense a lot of people are willing to be swayed one way or the other.

[j_b]

the only thing i sense is bush going down (short of a miracle)

[JayB]

I had this hunch that my evil homonym was a closet NASCAR fan. Must be a guilty pleasure.

[j_b]

probably not

 

i have other guilty pleasures but not this one. it's ok though, contradictions are a fact of life. it does not mean your beliefs have to change to fit your practice.

[JayB]

Just admit that you have been engaged in compulsive bidding for the autographed, life-sized velvet Dale Earnhardt Jr. poster on e-bay and you'll feel a whole lot better....

[klenke]

Technically speaking, Jay:

 

homonym: spelled the same but different meanings (bill of a bird, bill of sale). This is also known as a homograph

 

homophone: spelled differently but sound the same (a sewer grate, a great website)

 

JayB and j_b belong to the latter. Now you know.

[JayB]

I thought homophone referred to a same-sex chatline....

[klenke]

Hmmm, I guess that means homophone itself is a homonym.

[aint_this_great]

klenke, you never change. climbing website? what climbing website? this is a site for clarifying the meaning of little-known vocabulary words.

[catbirdseat]

Thanks, klenke, I did not know that.

[Blake]

does anyone else see the irony of an English language discussion breaking out on a thread about Nascar fans and GW bush?

[klenke]

More on homonyms and homophones courtesy of Mr. Norman Schurr:

[bunglehead]

Personally I find it hard to believe that a core constituency (of any party) consists of rural men that make under 30K a year. "NASCAR Dads" Wow.

 

(thoughtful pause)

 

 

....So does this mean we'll soon have 3 parties, like in the beginning, except instead of Whigs, we'll have the Mullet party? Schweeeeet....