If you are a member of NASCAR Nation, you knew that the Pepsi 400, one of the biggest races of the Nextel Cup season, was run on Saturday. If you were watching Fox News Channel this weekend, you probably saw a report by Carl Cameron about Rudy's appearance at the Daytona International Speedway for the race.
If, like me, you fall into both categories, you probably winced a little watching Rudy stumble though his understanding of NASCAR, and how it compares to political campaigns. Now, I have a lot of respect for Rudy, and I understand what he was trying to do because it's something that I've thought about several times. So I'm going to help him out, and compare NASCAR and political campaigns. This isn't supposed to be some serious analysis, just a fun little thought piece.
First off, they are both races (well, d'uh). In the most basic form, both are competitions among several people/groups to see who can finish first. Massive preparation among the competitors proceed the races to have the best team they can field to win the race.
The average NASCAR driver competes in 36 races each season. Drivers receives a certain number of points for what place they finish, and if they led a lap and if they led the most laps. In the final 10 races of the season, the top 12 drivers in the points standings then compete for the championship. In politics, you usually continue to run for office until you want to retire or you loose. The election that a politician currently runs in maybe be one in a long line of elections, or it may be the only election he or she participates in.
Drivers get into the Cup series by competing in lower tier series (the Busch Series or the Craftsman Truck series), or other series such as F1 circuit ( Juan Pablo Montoya) or Indy Racing League (IRL champion and 2 time Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart). How long you drive depends on how well you drive. Unless you are marketable, if you can't compete and run up front, a driver might find himself out of a ride. This also goes for crews. Crew members who show talent are usually courted by better teams, and many of them can start off low on the totem poll sweeping the shop.
It's not much different in politics. Outside of local and state legislators, most politicians have probably previously served in a lower level of government or some other aspect of government. Bush 43 and Clinton were both governors, Bush 41 was Vice-President and former CIA director. Many Senators have served in the US Congress. A politician is not afforded as many chances to not come in first though. If you loose, you political career could very well be over. And if you loose too many campaigns, you become a laughing stock or just ignored. Staffers and consultants usually start low on the totem poll as well. Staffers who prove themselves on state legislature campaigns can find themselves working for congressional or senate campaigns or presidential campaigns. Likewise, people who have worked for issue advocacy groups can find themselves working for campaigns.
So lets look at and compare the teams. In NASCAR, while we focus on the drivers, it really is a competition among teams. Every car has a pit crew at the race who changes the tires, refuels the car, and fixes any damage that occurs on the track. The team will have a crew chief who makes the calls on whether and when the driver should come to pit road, how many tires the pit crew will put on, how much fuel should be added, etc. Back at the shop, there is a car chief who makes sure the car is ready to go for the race. The engine teams tears apart, cleans, replace parts, and then rebuilds the engine. The fabricators build whole new cars to replace damaged or old cars. The PR team will take care of press questions, and helps market their driver and team to the fans as well as sponsors, whose contributions makes it possible to run the whole organization. How many people you have in your organization depends on how big the team is and how much money you can raise from your sponsors.
Political elections can likewise be considered a competition among teams. While everyone focuses on the candidate, there is a whole team behind him or her. There are campaign managers who make the decisions on what and how much to spend. There are the press and communication aides who deal with the press and answers questions from the public. There are more and more internet people who help market the candidate on the internet. There are people who focus on fund raising. Consultants help with marketing the candidate to various constituent groups, such as veterans, religious groups, tax groups, etc. And of course you have a field staff who goes out and finds supporters and sets up the grass roots organization. Like NASCAR, the size of the campaign depends on fund raising and how many contributions you can bring in.
Now lets look at the race itself. First off, no two races are really the same. The tracks vary. Daytona and Talladega are Super Speedways where the driver never lets off the throttle and the use of restrictor plates (which reduce the amount of airflow into the engine and tops the speed at 190mph) force the drivers to draft other cars and create huge packs. You can loose a lot of spots by loosing the draft, and gain a lot of spots by getting a good draft. Cars packed together driving at high speeds with drivers fighting to get to the front often creates the "big one," a wreck that involves several cars. Tracks such as Bristol, Martinsville and Richmond, are short tracks that require a different kind of strategy, centering around track position and pit strategy because of the difficulty in passing. Many of the intermediate tracks are similar in constructions (Michigan, Chicago, Kansas, and California), but they have their differences as well, such as how many racing "lines" there are. The weather, time of day, and air and track temperature also makes a difference. The heat in the track will effect tire pressure which alters the handle of the car. In races where the green flag drops in the daylight and finishes under the lights, teams have to take into account the change in temperatures in order to have a chance to win. Approaching bad weather and the chances of a shortened race can also effect how the race plays out. Drivers will stay out on the track longer than planned to keep their position in rain is imminent.
In politics, campaigns differ greatly as well. The obvious is that presidential campaigns can be run differently from US Senate campaigns, US Congressional campaigns, state legislature campaigns, etc. Within each category, the various campaigns can differ as well. The popularity of the parties, which can differ from district and region, will play a role. Issue importance may differ also in different regions. Employment may be more important in an area that just lost a manufacturing plant than another area where a plant is still operating. Candidate personalities and perceptions also differ. Some candidates may have to work harder than others because of name recognition and media coverage. Different strategies can develop among candidates from the same party. For example, let's look at the presidential campaigns. Some candidates are riding completely on the Iowa Straw Poll. Others look ahead at winning the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Others may focus on the February 5th primaries, like what many are speculating Rudy will do. And when you get into a general election, the focus of the Democrat campaign will differ from the Republican campaign like in issues, though they can also be similar such as focusing on the same battleground states.
The place that a driver or candidate is running at the beginning can change throughout the race. I've seen many races where the guys running up front at the beginning of the race are not the same ones running up front at the end. Several years ago, Kasey Kahne was out driving everyone at Charlotte, but a blown tire sent him into the wall and ended his night. Drivers who have trouble at the beginning of the race can still have a good finish. Jeff Gordon was 3 laps down at Martinsville a few years ago, but was able to get back on the lead lap and finish 4th. The same can happen with elections. Howard Dean was the Democrat front runner until he burned out a few weeks before the Iowa caucus and had to eventually drop out. And of course there is the story of Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, who came in as nobodies running at the back and ended up winning the whole thing.
Both NASCAR and elections have a preliminary stage. NASCAR has qualifying a day or two before the race to narrow the field down from 50 or so cars to 43. Aside from the top 35 drivers in the points standings who are locked into the race, if you aren't fast enough, you're going home. In elections, there is the primary stage. Though not always, each party usually has two more more people vying for the nomination of their party. The candidates who cannot keep up are usually forced to drop out. And when when the time comes, if you can't make the cut, you're going home.
And of course, we cannot forget the people on the outside--the fans and supporters. In NASCAR, the fans are everything. A driver's stock can go up if enough fans come to the track to support him and buys his merchandise. Fans are die hard for their driver, and often times deck themselves out head-to-toe in driver gear. There is also the driver or two they absolutely hate. Prime example is Dale Earnhardt and Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon. While the drivers themselves were and are friends, there is a huge fan rivalry, particularly on the part of Earnhardt fans. Don't believe me? Look at the track after a big Gordon win.
The same goes for politics. The more supporters a candidate has, the more his stock goes up. Look at how much focus Obama received when it was revealed how many people had donated to his campaign, or how any candidate or supporter brags when he or she has a well attended event. Supporters will place bumper stickers on their car, put up signs in their yards, and the more die hard supporters will write letters to the editor to their local papers, and volunteer for phone banks or door knocking. And supporters can create a larger rivalry than exists between candidates. Quite a rivalry had emerged between McCain and Romney supporters, for example, and another one is growing between Fred Thompson and Romney supporters. Going back into history a bit, Reagan supporters hated Ted Kennedy and Tip O'Neill and vice versa, however the guys themselves got along pretty well though they disagreed on a lot of issues.
Obviously, you can't create a direct comparison between NASCAR and elections, but it is interesting how you can compare the two. As Johnathan Martin at The Politico has pointed out, with Rudy at the Pepsi 400, John McCain's appearance at the Coca-Cola 600 in May, and Mike Huckabee at Darlington, it looks like the NASCAR vote will return in 2008. The big question is which candidate will make the next appearance?
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