Daytona Beach

As George W. Bush popped into the International Speedway during the granddaddy NASCAR Daytona 500 on February 15 he was careful to not screw up the way Bill Clinton did back in 1992. During his first presidential campaign Clinton was met with a wall of hoots and boos when he tried to make a political speech at a Darlington Raceway NASCAR run.

Bush wisely opted instead for the more visceral politics of cultural imagery. First he buzzed the gathered 180,000 stock-car-racing fans with Air Force One and two streaking F-15s. "The President is cool," said 38-year-old Gainesville carpenter Jim Reiter, who was sitting next to me as he watched the impromptu air show and sipped a brewski. Reiter apparently picked that phrase up from top NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has repeatedly and publicly made the same observation of Dubya.

A few minutes later, Bush tickled the crowd by running a lap around the legendary 2.5-mile track in his blacked-out motorcade fleet of spiffy SUVs. After a rousing live rendition of "God Bless the USA" from country singer Lee Greenwood, the crowd was stoked again by yet another overflight--this time from a wedge-shaped B-2 bomber flanked by fighter escorts.

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