Politics DailyPolitics Daily

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • COLUMNISTS
  • TOPICS
  • THE CAPITOLIST
  • WOMAN UP
  • DAILY FLOTUS
  • JUST IN
  • THE CRAM
  • CONTACT

    Stay in Touch

  • Inside Politics Daily

    Obama, NASCAR Sponsor?

    Posted:
    07/11/08
    I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this one. Via Sports Illustrated:

    SI.com has learned that for the first time in history, a major presidential candidate may sponsor a race car in NASCAR's premiere series. According to sources, Barack Obama's campaign is in talks to become the primary sponsor of BAM Racing's No. 49 Spring Cup car for the Pocono race on August 3. Details of the agreement are expected to be worked out over the coming days.

    I learned of this story today while visiting an old friend, Erik Rydholm, whose company now the produces ESPN's show "Pardon the Interruption." During the taping of the show, which I was fortunate to watch in the DC control room, host Michael Wilbon was asked if he had any problem with the Obama/NASCAR union.
    Wilbon didn't, noting that Obama is a big time sports fan.

    Obama is also an incredibly smart politician. More on the deal from SI:

    A BAM spokesperson has revealed the team will hold a press conference July 23 in Miami to reveal the partnership, currently a proposed one-race deal with an option to continue. Obama will be at the briefing, which will be tied to the "Get Out The Vote" campaign message he spread throughout the 2008 primary season.

    Racing sources claim one of the options being considered would allow individual campaign donors to get their name on the race car for as little as $100.

    Shrewd. What I like is that, as with evangelicals, Obama is not content to cede the playing filed to the Republican nominee. John Kerry was pretty hopeless on that score back in '04. The potential downside of such a maneauver? The charge of callous vote mongering. Still, it's a preemptive strike. We can only wait for McCain to announce his sponsorship of a wind-surfing team in retaliation.





    Follow PoliticsDaily On Facebook and Twitter

    David Knowles

    A journalist, musician and novelist, David Knowles has covered politics at AOL for the past two and a half years...more

    Contact David Knowles

    subscribe to: RSS email: David Knowles

    Add your comments

    Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

    When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

    To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

    Avoid hate speech, foul language or a disrespectful tone in your comments. Unwanted comments will be deleted at the discretion of the moderator.

    • Happening Right Now

       
    Politics Daily on Facebook

    Other News

     
    News Logo