No seriously, here me out. What if he bought his way to a Signature Series, took delivery in the summer, and then started driving it around campaigning in it? He can clearly afford it. It's American made which he's all for. It's innovative which he's for. It shows how he likes auto companies and innovation in auto companies, which he's for. What would you do if he did? If you are Democrat or independent, would you vote for him (assuming he wins the nomination)? I can't see Obama blasting him for driving it because that would be way hypocritical. Thoughts?
Someone would ask how much it cost. He would seem even richer and more out of touch with people. For some reason that seems to be important in your elected official. It would be bad PR. "He spent $90k dollars on a car that can only drive 300 miles." Not saying it is right, but that would happen. Newt would pile on and say Romney no longer cares about gasoline prices. Rick Santorum would say something about hating gays, or banning birth control, or something else absurd. Ron Paul would keep doing his thing. Barrack Obama would point to DOE loan that made the Model S possible, and :biggrin:.
Well, assuming that he has wrapped up the Republican nomination by the time he gets it, then Newt and Rick would be out of the picture. It would be him vs. democrats and I doubt the democrats would say that buying an EV makes one rich and out of touch. Mitt could say the DOE loans were approved under Bush so Obama had nothing to do with it.
What car a candidate drives wouldn't change how I feel about his policies and views. I'm sure the gay community outraged by that video of him with a gay couple wouldn't think any different of him... Nor would it make his past flip-flops disappear... It would be nothing more than yet another dog and pony show IMO.
True story. But I think it would be cool if he did it anyways. That's with regards to the Volt, there are plenty of EV people who would agree that the Volt is not the way to go and pure EVs are.
Well, if he thinks a perfectly serviceable plug-in hybrid's time has not come, I can't imagine what he thinks of pure EVs.
I don't think any candidate's car purchase will affect the vote. There are way more significant factors (for example it is highly unlikely Romney will ever back policies that support EVs in any significant way).
He could say that with the Model S, 300 miles of range, quick charge, wonderful looks, and 0-60 in 4.4 sec, the time has now arrived!
The Volt is a transitional car that promotes EV's and EV technology. There are a significant number of people out there who have no understanding of what an electic car can do. The Volt allows people to relieve the "range anxiety" with the technology they are comfortable with, an ICE. I'm glad the Volt is there for those people. As far as I'm concerned an EV purist that frowns upon the Volt is doing a disservice to EV's. As for Romney, he has little chance to win no matter what he does. He will appeal to his base which hates the Volt and EV's with a passion. He will call Tesla a government subsidized car and try to attack Obama with it as an example of frivolous government spending.
No republican would be crazy enough do drive an EV in public before the primary process was over. In the general election as was said above, it could help him but could also depress his base. I think EVs should be the conservative's choice since it is one step in the process of reducing our oil imports but it doesn't seem to work like that.
Lamar Alexander (R-TN) drove a converted Prius (to be a plugin). I guess now he drives a Leaf. Lamar Alexander Plug-In Electric Vehicles 2008 | MPGomatic Collins: Prius-driving senator champions electric car incentives Knoxville News Sentinel But it would repudiate "solid conservative" ideas like - Obama can do no right - We have enough oil to last centuries if only librals let us drill - Obama is shoving electric cars down our throats We have to remember conservative base has been fed a regular dose of anti-EV mythology everyday by Rush, Hannity and others. As others have pointed out conservatives are so much more to the right than before that people like Reagan (started CARB, raised taxes) or Nixon (started EPA, originator of Obamacare !) would be condemned as moderates. BTW, Romney driving around a $90k car would reinforce the idea of him being so rich and different from voters that Obama surrogates would be all over him for that. It is the same way Obama doesn't want to talk about race at all.
After all this time he hasn't managed to buy the nomination....what makes you think he could manage to buy a Model S?
It'd never happen, due to his personal belief that you can't drive a car with a windmill on it. Y'Know, those 21" turbine wheels and all...
Elon on Romney http://www.bloomberg.com/video/musk-s-tesla-motors-model-s-targets-luxury-market-M~ngoj5oSFiwFduIcwxiqQ.html
Elon said about Romney (I paraphrase): "I'm not sure he's really for them [electric vehicles]......but i dont think he's necessarily against them either." Sort of sounds like Mitt's position on most everything.:wink:
I still think he should drive a new Signature Performance version from LA to his house in San Diego and then load it into the car elevator while the world watches. The pundits won't know what to do with it because it both angers and pleases both sides of the aisle.
It's depressing when politics obscures the positve message of buying American to support fellow-American jobs and help start the long haul to reduce dependency on foreign oil. But then the combination of the medium and the masses ensures that positive messages are drowned out. It's a short and simple step from "I feel your pain" to "I feed your prejudices". They all do it