Reggie the Registration Rig, “NASCAR Dads”, and the "Swing Voter".

[Brotherjohn]

The Bushies would have you believe "NASCAR Dads" are the swing voters this year.

OF COURSE they would. Bush probably polls higher among adult male NASCAR fans than just about any demographic out there.

But "NASCAR Dad" always smacked to me as a lame attempt by the Bush campaign to define the zeitgeist (to which, when Rove suggested that idea to Bush, Bush probably replied "Good movie! I love Spielberg!"). This is only reinforced by the RNC's "Reggie the Registration Rig", the semi that's going around the country trying to drum up voters, with the words "Racing to Victory" and a checkered flag blazed across the side.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1485552/20040304/index.jhtml?headlines=true

They’re planning on taking the truck to NASCAR races, college campuses, and, according to RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie (in an MTV clip played on the Daily Show last night and made pointedly clear by John Stewart), “Stinko de Mayo” celebrations.

Now, aside from the lame attempt at garnering a Hispanic vote which they somehow think is their birthright because W. speaks a few words of Spanish (badly), not only is this NOT going to get any NASCAR Dads out there to vote Repub who weren’t already going to do so, but it certainly is NOT going to define who the swing voters this year are. It’s just preaching to the choir (and possibly offending another choir or two).

Arianna Huffington has is right today: if any group is the swing voter this year, it’s single women... and they’re pissed! (http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/column.php?id=703) But the trick, as she points out, is getting them energized, getting them to vote.

However, there is no shortage of energized groups out there today thanks to Bush policies. Perhaps the "Golden Girls": recently or soon-to-be retired women who are (doubly) pissed since their IRAs have plummeted and their prescription costs are skyrocketing. Or possibly the "Manufacturing Wannabes": recently unemployed (obviously pissed) workers dreaming of a good "manufacturing" job at McDonald's. Or possibly the "Falluja Fodder" demographic: young voters who are afraid of a possible draft, watched yesterday’s footage from Falluja, and are scared as hell (and pissed).

That last one may seem harsh, but I remember my fears at 18 when we had hostages in Iran. I lost a lot of sleep worrying that I'd be drafted and spending the next year in a tank somewhere south of Tehran. And Iran in 1980 doesn't even compare to Iraq in 2004.

For every pipe dream of a swing voting bloc that Bush carts out, there are ten others who are much more likely to affect the election. And the bad news for Bush is… they’re all pissed.

[zbdent]

1. Republicans are going after the swing vote?

Well, that goes against their "family values".

Then again, you have Rush, Hyde, Packwood, etc . . .