Obama not doing NASCAR sponsorship

JOLIET, Ill. — NASCAR's BAM Racing team has presented Barack Obama's presidential campaign with a potential sponsorship deal in the Sprint Cup series later this year, but it doesn't look like an Obama car will be burning rubber on the track anytime soon.

BAM team spokesman Rhett Vandiver told The Associated Press on Friday that the team made a sponsorship proposal to the Democratic presidential hopeful's campaign, and has made similar proposals to the campaign of Republican John McCain and at least one third-party candidate.

Late Friday, the Obama campaign said there would be no sponsorship.

"The Obama campaign will not be sponsoring a car in the Sprint Cup series, though we will continue to look for ways to reach out to voters and convey Senator Obama's message of change." said Bill Burton, an Obama campaign spokesman

Sports Illustrated first reported the proposal on its Web site, saying Obama's campaign is in talks with BAM, a part-time operation that hasn't raced in recent weeks, to sponsor its No. 49 car in the Aug. 3 race at Pocono.

"The Obama campaign will not be sponsoring a car in the Sprint Cup series, though we will continue to look for ways to reach out to voters and convey Senator Obama's message of change." Bill Burton, Obama Campaign Spokesman

It would have been a fairly bold move within a sport whose competitors spend all year turning left on the track but tend to lean to the right politically.

BAM's choice of drivers and car brands might have been a little too sticky politically for the Obama camp.

The car, a Toyota _ the only foreign automaker racing in NASCAR _ would be driven by veteran Ken Schrader.

According to the Federal Election Commission's Web site, Schrader gave $1,000 to the campaign of North Carolina Republican congressman Robin Hayes in June 2004, and a total of $2,500 in 2003 and 2004 to the failed Virginia congressional campaign of Republican Kevin Triplett, a former NASCAR official.

Also according to the FEC, Mrs. Ann Schrader of Concord, N.C. and Ken Schrader Racing donated a total of $2,000 to President Bush's campaign in May 2004 and $900 to the North Carolina Republican Executive Committee in August 2004.

NASCAR has been playing an increasing role in politics, as so-called "NASCAR dads" were considered a key constituency in recent elections.

A Cup series car carried a George W. Bush logo in 2004 but wasn't officially associated with the campaign. And Democratic presidential hopeful Bob Graham sponsored a truck in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2003.

Comments

[riley85]

I can see Obama telling his liberal supporters---you haven't been listening to me. I haven't changed. I've been a redneck all along.

I am disappointed Obama won't be hopping in a racing car. It would have been his Dukakis moment.

NASCAR fans won't fall for Obama's pandering. They aren't like Hollywood. He's probably never let oil or grease touch his pretty hands!

[aj4321]

The guy who was on food stamps "never let oil or grease touch his pretty hands"? Remeber, those fumes from the race cars are dangerous to your brain if directly inhaled.

[MajorKong]

You probably believe that George W. Bush is a cowboy too.

[SamEllison]

Time for a little debris on the track, eh fellas?

[schicklett3]

I can't wait to see what Cindy McCain wears to the Nascar race... probably a skin tight black leather catwoman type suit, or a tube top and Daisy Duke shorts. LOL Whatever, you can bet your fringed cutoff shorts that she'll show cleavage.

[Aipex8]

FYI, Cindy McCain will be riding in the pace car at an Indy Car race, not all racing is for rednecks. Indy Car (which uses 100% Ethanol) and many other non-NASCAR racing series are pushing greener technologies. Many automotive inovations trickle down from the more high-tech race series like Indy and Formula 1. While sponsoring a NASCAR team would expose O's name to a demographic that typically wouldn't vote for him, sponsoring an "also-ran" team probably isn't the most effective. Sponsoring an Indy team would be more in line with his environmental message, but of course would reach a completely different demographic.

[JJeff88]

It seemed like a terrific idea when I first heard of it. (Excellent symbolic "reaching out" gesture).

But XCommunicate ("Bad move, guys. Imagine if the car crashes, goes up in flames, or causes a pile up. No amount of "spin" would fix that little blunder.") makes an excellent point.

Also - Unless it could be shown that Barack's support of NASCAR was consistent with automobile fuel conservation policy, the whole deal might (pardon the punt) backfire.

[ebethgay]

I also thought it was a good idea initially, just thinking of the "hard-working" Americans having to watch Senator Obama's name whiz by them 400 times. On second thought Nascar is a monumental waste of gas, from the race cars themselves to the RV's packed in the infield.

[granamica]

NASCAR is for people who can't follow a sport with a rule book. Talk about over priced "athletes", they get paid for driving fast in traffic. Who hasn't done that?

[LightningJoe]

What a great place to get visibility for a politician's global warming initiative -- on the side of a roaring fuel-burner that spins around a track going nowhere, as a side effect of how much C02 it's spewing into the air.

I doubt they thought very long about it. The mystery is why they thought at all! The Republicans really must be losing their edge, if they didn't make any more noise than they did, over such a richly ironic proposal. Is this what running out of funders means, that they have to settle for bottom-rank strategists?

[RavagesOfTime]

This thread is hilarious.

And blog commenters wonder why Democrats are so sketchy about keeping with them.

[totaldisbelief]

I'm with you...this is laughable at so many levels

[eden4barack08]

Too bad, I had liked the idea. But if they don't have US cars and independent drivers, it's just as well.

Still admire O camp's desire to reach out to ALL Americans anyway!

"Leave no stone unturned"

[FADUTA]

Changed his position did he? Imagine him doing that!

[JiminNC]

McTroll!

[LeonBNJ]

I am glad he decided against this. Politics don't belong in NASCAR. The people in and fans of NASCAR don't like it. Among it's owners and drivers it is exclusive club only of white males, the wrong thing for O to support. I also think it also was totally wrong to consider a sponsorship of a Toyota, a Japan based carmaker who doesn't allow the UAW for their workers in thier USA plants. Even the driver of the car didn't like this idea. I am glad someone had an attack of common sense.

[granamica]

Nascar is a rampant virus that has spread unchecked across our nation, killing brain cells and destroying whole communities in its swath.

LOL, sort of. It is the stupidest "sport" and I bleme ESPN for bringing it to the masses.

[worldtuner]

We'll Barack Hussein obama, now there's a good ole American name, you should've back the car that takes you to the White house

[JiminNC]

And Sidney McSame wasn't even born in America.

[luvangelHussein330]

aww man...my dream of seeing men turn left for three hours has ben deminished *sniff*

[realityczech4u]

Thank you Mr. Obama for coming to your senses. The thought of the carbon footprint that a NASCAR race emits makes me tremble, makes me shudder. Bless you Barack for not associating yourself with such an envirocrime.

[Lazycrockett]

Yeah? really? A man who is jetting from state to state on a daily basis, to get elected to a position to uphold the constitution that hes already thrown under the bus and you think NOT sponsoring a race car make him some sort of earth father?

get a clue.

[kevenseven]

O bama single handedly threw the constitution under a bus?

You get a clue, dippy-do.

[whizkid]

Sen. Clayton Bigsby rides again.

[JiminNC]

I see the McDoink campaign emptied the d-o-u-c-h-e-b-a-g today. Whizpants is back on the payroll.

[unitedstates]

yeah. he's going drive it right back over reverend wright and any other old friend he's dumped for a vote