Free Republic

The “Raise the Roots” Tour will make a stop 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Catlett Music Center in Norman, promising to bring a high-energy rap session to loyal fans known as Generation Dean. Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean will be at the mic, and not a hip-hop artist. The former Vermont governor’s popularity has gone off the charts among some voters, though, by doing old-fashioned rap — as in talk and discussion — in a high-tech manner. “Dean will conjure up so many outsider images,” said Keith Gaddie, a University of Oklahoma associate professor in political science. “You’ve get some...

If you've got to have a gimmick in politics, Senator Bob Graham may have found the next big thing. Mr. Graham, one of a slew of Democrats running for president this year, has spent as much as $500,000 to help underwrite a souped-up Jack Roush pickup truck that has been screaming around some of Nascar's racetracks. After the Bob Graham Ford won a race in Kansas City, his campaign got thousands of dollars in free publicity as TV cameras followed the machine for a full victory lap. Politicians nowadays are setting their sights on "Nascar dads," as opposed to the...