Sabato’s Crystal Ball: VOTERS, START YOUR ENGINES
Cordel Faulk on VOTERS, START YOUR ENGINES
Presidential debate season is upon us. That means John McCain, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Sarah Palin are traveling around the country with huge binders of prep materials under their arms—and dreams of an eight-year relationship with the Secret Service dancing in their heads.
For the rest of us, however, we’re getting ready to tune into the political equivalent of a NASCAR race. NASCAR and the presidential race are analogous? Indeed they are, and here’s why:
Lots of important things are going on during a NASCAR race. A great deal of strategy is involved with maneuvering an automobile around a crowded track at 200-plus miles per hour and either taking or keeping a lead. NASCAR requires an enormous amount of skill, and that’s why the same few drivers win almost all the races—because it’s not easy. But, let’s be honest, NASCAR fans show up at the track and are glued to the excitement first and foremost for one reason: They want to see a crash (non-fatal, of course), and preferably several of them. It’s a disappointment if one doesn’t happen.
And ladies and gentlemen, the same principle applies to presidential debates…
