The New York Times, reflecting on the recent day Eliot Spitzer spent at the racetrack, reveals that the New York governor comes by his NASCAR fandom honestly:

Ever since he married his North Carolina-born wife, whose brother is a top engineer at Hendrick Motorsports, one of Nascar's top teams, Mr. Spitzer has followed stock car racing, and has made Jeff Gordon, a Hendrick driver, his favorite.

Here's the problem, though. While NASCAR may indeed be, as the NYT contends, "a calculated interest for ambitious politicians trying to appeal to a working-class male demographic," backing Jeff Gordon is one of the worst possible ways to appeal to that demographic. Gordon may be one of NASCAR's most successful drivers, but he's also its most hated--not just because of his success but because of his pretty-boy looks. And the NASCAR fans who hate him the most are typically the working-class males. (NASCAR's female fans are a different story.) The fact that so much Gordon-bashing takes on a pretty homophobic tone--as this anti-Gordon website demonstrates--makes liking him that much more problematic for a pol trying to leverage his love of stock-car racing into some Red State cred. Of course, maybe Spitzer's Gordon fandom could be turned to his advantage. If politicians continue to associate themselves with NASCAR in their search for votes, then by 2012 or 2016, when Spitzer (assuming he survives the current Albany scandal he's caught up in) is running for the White House, NASCAR may actually be ready for a Sister Souljah moment. And while going to an NEA convention and endorsing merit pay certainly take guts, I don't think there'd be anything more courageous than a politician going to Talladega and waving a 24 flag. --Jason Zengerle