Sic transit and all that. Just four months after Operation Flight Suit, the superpower has become a supplicant to nations it used to insult. Mission accomplished!
"Some Southerners have the perception that Democrats are elitists and look down on things like, say, NASCAR racing," said Charles Bullock, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia. "So the Democrats have to begin showing that they are at least interested. That's a first step."
Edwards took such a step in his Senate race by sponsoring a race car. Democrat Mark Warner did the same in his successful campaign for governor in Virginia, a state dominated by the Republican Party. And now, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, one of the nine Democrats seeking the party's presidential nomination, is sponsoring a truck in NASCAR's racing truck series.
"If you're going to send a message of hope to rural America, there is no better vehicle than NASCAR," said David "Mudcat" Saunders, the Virginia Democrat behind Warner's sponsorship of a race car in 2001 who is now an adviser to Graham's presidential campaign.
But the liberal constituency that dominates the Democratic Party's presidential nominating process makes it difficult for Edwards and Graham to follow the example of Warner and largely ignore the cultural issues that frequently divide Democrats from Southern conservatives.
The new laws also include some things you can now legally do for the first time in Texas, including carry a passenger on your all-terrain vehicle on public property if the vehicle has a passenger seat (SB 1635), and drive your newfangled Segway vehicle ("electric personal assistive mobility devices") on sidewalks, bike paths and roads with speed limits of 30 mph or less (HB 1997).
