For a conservative Republican governor, Rick Perry is unusually willing to associate his name with going left.
While Bill White encourages potential young leaders to come to Bill White University (BWU) — the White campaign's training program— Perry is trying to seduce Texans in a slightly different way: By sponsoring a NASCAR driver.
To his credit Perry has chosen Bobby Labonte as his racer in the April 18 Sprint Cup Race at Ft. Worth's Texas Motor Speedway. Perry's name will be all over Labonte's car for this race — half of the hood alone is taken up by a "Governor Perry" and the sides and back will also tout the governor. Labonte is a squeaky-clean, scandal-free Texas native who is also the only NASCAR driver to win both the Winston Cup Championship and the Busch Series Championship — while going left of course (there are no right turns in NASCAR).
Unlike Rick Perry, however, Labonte hasn't won a race since 2003.
Hopefully for the governor this sponsorship ends better than the last time the government joined forces with NASCAR. In 2008, to promote the digital TV changeover, the FCC spent $355,000 to sponsor a car for three races. The Digital TV Transition Ford crashed twice in its first two races.