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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Rudy does Nascar DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., July 8 — Standing before about 200,000 die-hard racing fans who had spent hours sweating, drinking and revving up for the Pepsi 400, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor who is much more Brooklyn than bayou, acknowledged on Saturday what many could have guessed. “This is my first live Nascar event,” he told the crowd. When he was mayor, Mr. Giuliani was not shy about indulging in such New York treats as the opera or expensive Italian restaurants. But he now finds himself on different terrain as he runs for president, and so he has started educating himself on the sport that claims some 75 million fans who skew distinctly Republican. To that end, he told reporters that he had just finished reading “The Female Fan Guide to Motorsports.” “This is embarrassing,” Mr. Giuliani said. The book was given to him by the author, Betsy Berns, a Giuliani fund-raiser, perhaps with the hope that the man who had once playfully dressed in women’s clothes for a campy skit might be comfortable with a Nascar tutorial for the ladies. Mr. Giuliani also had his wife, Judith, there to give him pointers. Mrs. Giuliani grew up near a track in Pennsylvania, and she said she had been to her fair share of races. Mr. Giuliani seemed to strike a chord with the crowd. As the couple made their way around Daytona International Speedway, looking at cars and talking with drivers and fans, they were greeted with shouts of “Rudy!” Of course, as one fan said, Rudy is a fun name to yell after a few beers. At the Track As he toured the speedway, Mr. Giuliani’s casual look, a blue blazer and khakis, did not exactly blend in among the throngs of men with tank tops and deep red tans. But he did have on a pair of shiny cowboy boots. Asked about them, he said he had three pairs and had worn boots on occasion since 1996, when he won his first pair on a bet after a Yankees victory. Mr. Giuliani, when meeting with drivers and car owners, asked question after question, said Brian France, the chief executive of Nascar who escorted him part of the day. But Don Ward, 48, said there were only three questions Mr. Giuliani needed to know to converse with a fan like himself: “What kind of beer do you like? Who is your favorite manufacturer? And who is your favorite driver?” Mr. Ward said he thought it best if Mr. Giuliani did not mention a favorite driver. To do so would alienate some part of the Nascar nation. Touring the South Mr. Giuliani began his swing through the South on Thursday with a stop in Daytona and then a fund-raiser at the home of Lesa France, Mr. France’s sister and the granddaughter of the founder of Nascar. On Friday, the Giulianis went to Savannah, Ga. The stop marked her return to the trail after a rough introduction to national politics in the spring, when she drew some negative press over her previous marriages and comments about her possible role in a Giuliani administration. After a town hall-style meeting on Friday morning, the couple strolled hand in hand under the shade of trees covered in Spanish moss and read a sign explaining the history of the old Cotton Exchange. They shared a quiet lunch at Vic’s on the River, a restaurant known for its fried green tomatoes, which Mrs. Giuliani ordered. The campaign trip gave Mr. Giuliani a chance to work on a new part of his standard speech, in which he questions the opinion that the country is heading in a wrong direction. “I ask you this question: If America is going in the wrong direction, where is the rest of the world going?” he said at a town hall meeting on Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla. “Where is Russia going? Where is England going? Where is France going? Where is Africa going? If we are going in the wrong direction, the rest of the world is falling off a cliff.” The line was greeted with tepid applause. When Mr. Giuliani listed the challenges the United States faced, he did not mention Iraq. Unless asked about the war, Mr. Giuliani generally does not talk about it, except as it relates to the fight against terrorism.
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#1. To: kiki (#0)
“This is embarrassing,” Mr. Giuliani said. I can only assume he was dressed in that queer outfit Donald Trump liked so much.
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