General Wesley Clark is nearing the moment when he’ll finally decide whether to make a run for the Presidency or not. In the meantime, several groups have organized ‘Draft Clark’ movements in order to build momentum for a Clark candidacy.
Part of their strategy takes a page right from Howard Dean’s playbook—organizing local meet-ups. I have read about these often. However, they all seem to be happening in far off places. And then comes the official Draft Clark organization with its headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas. Borrowing from another page of the Dean strategy, it appears the Draft Clark movement is not going to stick only to the metropolitan areas and major media markets. They are holding meet-ups in 12 Arkansas cities. In a state that has only one major media market of its own, and three markets shared with other states, 12 cities is quite a large number.
In any event, there is a Draft Clark meet-up in my little town of about 10,000 tonight. Your roving correspondent will attend despite my obvious Bush support. If for nothing else, just to say that I went to a meet-up the year that it all started. And heck, who knows, maybe they’ll learn about my background as a political professional and offer me a job. There are worse things I could do.
UPDATE: As I continued looking around the Draft Clark website, I clicked over to the contact us page. The phone number to the Little Rock headquarters immediately jumped off the page at me. One of my dearest and oldest friends had called the other day and left me her number. I hadn't called back. I instantly realized where she is now working. That's right, she is working at the national headquarters of the Draft Clark 2004 organization. And to think, I'm the guy that brought her into politics as a Republican. Now, I know how Obi Wan felt when Anakin Skywalker went over to the dark side.
The California recall vote election is certainly a sight to behold. We’ve seen more dramatic plot twists than a Grisham novel screenplay. We’ve had the will they or won’t they of California Democrats fretting over standing by their man Gray Davis.
We then had the will he or won’t he of Arnold running, and if a) or b) what will Richard Riordan do? Add to the mix a porn star, a disgusting smut peddler, a fruit smashing bald guy, and a washed child star, and you have the makings of a classic E! True Hollywood Story. That or the original political spoof movie of all time. Imagine the movie trailer—
Coming this fall to a theater near you—
Total Rewind: Dog the Wags!
Starring Arnold Scharwzenegger as the front runner on a mission to save the state, Mary Carey offering gratuitous glimpses of skin, Larry Flynt as a weak spoiler a la Ross Perot, Richard Riordan in his first Ed McMahon-esqe role, Gallagher courting voters with unsanitary fruit smoothies, and Gary Coleman appearing in his first movie since—well, ever—portraying the political version of Joe Pesci in the Lethal Weapon series. With special guest appearances by Arianna Huffington playing a leach to Arnold’s honorable candidacy. Bill Clinton who feels Gray Davis’s pain and Mary Carey. Nancy Pelosi with ridiculously simple and minutely detailed instructions on making “Vote NO!” origami storks. Cruz Bustamente in a Oscar worthy performance for his portrayal of a confused, “No, But, then again, vote me” politician.
The critics are raving—
Richard Head, New York Times-- An unfortunate and inaccurate depiction of a Great American™, Gray Davis.
Eileen Dover, LA Times—A wild circus ride that we still don’t understand; it certainly has nothing to do with this paper’s editorials.
Ben Dover, Washington Post—A bizarre, but entertaining piece of fiction. Bill Clinton couldn’t have made such a story happen, though we suspect W. might.
Mike Hunt, San Francisco Examiner—Overall, a good film, but it notable in its failure to depict gay males, accentuated by its inclusion of erotica actress, Mary Carey.
Cap U. Essay, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette—A hilarious and accurate shock-u-mentary of the bizarro world of California politics. Thoroughly entertaining and a compelling reason to live in the Heartland or the South.
Total Rewind: Dog the Wags
See it, laugh, laugh at California, cry if you are from Californian, give thanks you live anywhere but California, and remember to run, don’t walk, away from Cali politics.
Out--Soccer moms
In--Nascar Dads
That's right the politicos have come up with the next big thing in demographic targeting--NASCAR fans.
Personally, I'm not a NASCAR fan. I never have fully understood the pleasure one gets from sitting on their couch and watching various camera angles of a slew of souped up cars going in a seemingly endless flat circle. However, that hasn't stopped NASCAR from growing beyond its rural roots and become the hottest new sports genre in the country. Millions of fans tune in every week to watch the races. I wouldn't begin to guess the number of people who make their way to the actual events. They cover a broad spectrum, and increasingly there are more women who are fans.
From when I worked as a political professional, I can report that politicos follow trends just as closely as any company. We engage in market research to identify our most likely customers (positive votes) and engage them with every form of media the campaign can afford--television, radio, direct mail, email, websites, special events, earned media, personal appeals, you name it and we did it--sometimes more effectively than the big time marketers and advertisers.
That being the case, I'm not surprised that the politicos are now targeting the NASCAR demographic. From what little of a thumbnail sketch I have of them, I would say they are very similar to the Reagan Democrats of the 80's. They lean union or southern Democrat, are fiercely independent, and their support is best won by common sense arguments that appeal to a populist sense of God, Family, and Country. Given the entrenched 35% who self identify as a Republican and the matching 35% who self identify as Democrats, any easily reachable demographic of the remaining independent 30% area a juicy target indeed.
Many of my friends in this little town in the South are card carrying members of the NASCAR demographic. I know them well, even if I don't know their sport. If any of you politicos need to know any of the special nuances of the NASCAR demo, give me a holler, I'm embedded.
From across the pond, we see an article about the first ever use of a Taser gun on a human by police by British police.
Apparently, some deranged Brit was carrying two handguns and refused to set them down when ordered to do so by the bobbies. They fired a plastic bullet to try to convince the man. He fell to the ground and then began to get up again, still holding the two handguns. So, they fired the Taser, shocked the guy senseless, retrieved his two handguns, and took the stunned man into custody.
The entire article was rather uneventful in my opinion until it came to the second to last sentence--
I suppose the rights groups would prefer the British police to have mowed the deranged man down, leaving him as a lifeless heap with his two beloved handguns. Or maybe, they would have preferred the police to have just talked to the guy a little more. The idiocy of some folks never ceases to amaze me.
One of my readers, Phil, has set today as the official launch of a new blog called The Speculist. Phil's blog will focus on the future and the multitudes of possibilities unrolling before us everday. To see the quick summary of what The Speculist will contain you can visit this post.
Good luck Phil!