YAY. We're still winning!*

"I ask you this question: If America is going in the wrong direction, where is the rest of the world going? 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."

----------

Here's yesterday's NYTimes story on Mr. Guiliani's weekend trip to Daytona:

"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.