Take the proposed temporary federal gas tax repeal, please. Both Clinton and McCain are using this to curry favor with put-upon gas pumpers. Only Obama has been honest enough to admit that such a plan is a fool’s errand that won’t guarantee lower gas prices, but will guarantee less money to build and maintain roads. I’m sure that Obama’s team figured out how to position him on this issue to maximum political capital, but he gets credit for both being correct and for appealing to sober voters.

I was less impressed with his response to Tim Russert’s question about the country’s ethanol policy, which Obama eventually admitted may need to be reworked, but only after he listed several other problems that are causing high fuel prices. He wasn’t wrong about these other problems, but the question was about ethanol and he hedged a bit too much in deference to those farmers and their damn subsidies.  Obama also didn’t address the direct effect ethanol is having on beer prices and thus neglected to appeal to non-sober voters.

I’m all for alternative fuels and believe that once the incentive is great enough, someone will develop one that is both cheaper and more environmentally friendly than what we’re currently filling-up with, but ethanol doesn’t seem to be that alternative.

So will Obama’s common sense approach and respect for the voters’ intelligence on this issue propel him to the presidency? At this point, we don’t know.

When last I wrote about presidential politics, I was of the opinion that it was the Democrats office to lose and that Clinton would be the one not to lose it. Now, not only does it looks like she has lost it, but it doesn’t appear that the Democratic candidate will taking the cake walk to the White House that many of us expected after two terms of Bush. I think much of McCain’s current appeal among moderates and independents is a direct result of the damage that Clinton and Obama are inflicting upon each other. That will likely change in the fall, but I wouldn’t be completely shocked if McCain won, something that would have shocked me a good piece six months ago.

I’ve read some interesting analysis on this race that suggests that either Democratic candidate would be better off not winning the nomination. The thinking goes that McCain would beat either one and that the one that doesn’t lose in the general election will live to run again. Party people don’t like to give a second chance to nominees that fail them in November. That last part is probably true, although I don’t think that a McCain victory is inevitable.

Now for the audience participation part of this blog: Putting your preferences aside, if you were going to place a bet on the outcome of the presidential election, who would you lay your money on? Clinton’s already been compared to Eight Belles. So who’s Big Brown?**

*this title is meant to demonstrate how difficult it can be to write witty or meaningful titles

**no racial overtones should be read into this metaphor.

In the past, Budweiser was content on being known as a “beer,” an everyman libation for people who want to get drunk without being bothered by rich tastes or fragrant aromas. This was, and is, a solid strategy as more Bud is sold than any other beer, although less now than when Harry Caray was alive and imbibing.

In their new commercials, A-B prominently and repeatedly refers to Bud as a “lager.”  It’s always been a lager, there’s been no change to the formula. It seems that the beer behemoth just wants to cash in on the cachet of the more descriptive designation. Not only do the new Budweiser commercials stress the word lager, they’re also set in a brew pub type atmosphere populated by people not adorned exclusively in team sports apparel. So, what gives? What’s A-B’s angle here?

Fear Real Beer: The heavy import that A-B warned you about.

People who think of beer as something more than simply a mechanism to deliver alcohol into their blood stream know that there are different types of beer. There are ales and stouts, porters and pilsners, and many other variations, including lagers. These people, connoisseurs if you will, tend to steer clear of diluted domestics, which they consider the “kiddy cocktails” of beer. Recently, this segment of the market has been growing, and it isn’t comprised entirely of the moneyed elite or beer snobs such as myself.*

Sales of micro/craft brews were up 17.6 percent last year and imports were up 10 percent, while sales of domestic beer rose a paltry 2.4 percent. Now granted, there were only 6.7 million barrels sold in the micro/craft category in 2006, while A-B sold 25.8 million barrels of Budweiser alone that same year. Still one doesn’t retain the throne of the King of Beers without attempting to squash any attempt at a coup, not matter how tiny the revolutionaries.

So what A-B is doing with Budweiser is what political strategists have been doing with candidates for years. Instead of changing the substance of a product (or actually giving it substance), you simply re-brand it to appeal to whatever demographic you are courting. If you want Bud to compete with tasty craft beers, just call it the Great American Lager. But be warned, you can pour a Bud into a pint glass and pretend that you appreciate the taste, but you’re still swilling the same watered-down concoction that made you throw up in the backseat of your friend’s car.

Bud isn’t the first mass-appeal product to try and recreate itself as a prestige brand. Hardee’s made gestures to the lower end of the Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse crowd with their Angus burgers, but then wisely repositioned themselves towards those who aspire to obesity and heart disease (see: Philly Cheesesteak Thick Burger.) And K-Mart sought to shake off their blue light special image by introducing the Jaclyn Smith Collection, but as classy a dame as Jacky is, they still haven’t clicked with the DKNY set.

I don’t suspect that A-B will stick to their “seriously, Bud’s a lager” campaign for long. Now that their Dalmatian has leapt from the wagon to the Miller Lite truck, they’ll probably forget their snooty pretensions and seek revenge against their true market-share rival.** And they’ll continue to dominate the beer market.

*According to an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, A-B’s King of Lagers ads are targeted at Hispanic “aspirers” who are looking to increase their social status by upgrading their beer.

**Yes, I know, that’s a Bud Light commercial. It all comes from the same vat, except for Michelob Ultra which comes directly from the water tap.

When she embarked on this journey, at the urging of a friend in NYC who was looking for a figurative mountain to climb, I had my doubts that Tammy was up to running 26 miles. It wasn’t her fitness or determination that I questioned, it was the not-insignificant fact that she wasn’t a runner. Swimming, ellipticalling, yoga-ing, weightlifting – yes. But she didn’t run and didn’t really like running so the idea that she would be able to run a marathon seemed as likely as me being able to sit through a James Blunt concert.

Well, I’m about to be proven foolish once again. She’s already completed a 20-mile run during her training regimen, so barring an injury or an alarm clock with a confounding AM/PM button, she’ll be crossing the finish line sometime Sunday afternoon, and most likely won’t stop until she reaches the nearest saloon.

God’s Speed, Tammy and Tara!

Wo der schadenfreude ist?*
I turned to the sports page this morning to see how the Cubs fared. After reading the score, I wanted to be happy that they lost again – honest I did. But there was something missing. Where was the spite? Where was the schadenfreude? What demon had invaded my soul, leaving me incapable of finding joy in the simplest and most common of life’s pleasures?

The truth is, the Cubs two games to none deficit has left me feeling conflicted. I think of certain friends, nephews and brothers-in-law – and, yes, even Ron Santo, the poster boy for pathos – and I can’t help but feel sad that they are being denied a chance to celebrate after suffering through futility for so long. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if the Cubs finally won it all. But just once.

Imitation Friday Beer Blogging
I have an article in the Heartland Magazine today on breweriana (beer-related items) collectors. They’re having their annual show at the Signature Inn tomorrow from 9:00 am until 2 pm. As you all probably know, the Signature Inn is on Stevenson, not Dirksen, as I mistakenly wrote in the article. I’m an idiot and have no excuse.

Anyway, if any of you bloggers-of-a-certain-age want to rekindle your passion for beer can collecting (it was quite the rage in the 70s and early 80s), or if any of you younger types are ready to moth ball those Pokemon cards and want to start collecting something more adult in nature, you should head on over to the Signature tomorrow. The people I interviewed for the story are really interesting and fun. Just don’t ask if you can drink one of their 65-year-old pilsners. Unlike wine, beer doesn’t become refined with age.

Love Office Style
I normally don’t get caught up in the romantic, will they or won’t they story lines that are woven into sitcoms. I’m in it strictly for the laughs. I must admit, however, that I was a bit touched when Pam and Jim were holding hands in last week’s episode of the Office. I really hope those two kids make it.

Isn’t Pam just adorable?

*This was translated using an online program and as such is probably unintelligible to our German-speaking friends.