SEC primary
The SEC primary is a college athletics-themed primary set for March 1 that includes mostly states from the Southeast. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is considered its inventor.
States currently scheduled to hold their primaries and caucuses on March 1:
Georgia
Alabama
Alaska (GOP primary only)
Arkansas
Colorado
Minnesota
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Tailgate tweets
A small sample of posts on Twitter involving presidential candidates and a favorite pre-game warm-up of college football fans:
Jeremy W. Peters Verified account @jwpetersNYT
“Come on, bro, this is a tailgate,” a not-too-happy football fan chides glad-handing Rubio. @tripgabriel from Iowa
Katie Zezima Verified account @katiezez
Planned Parenthood, including a woman dressed as a packet of birth control pills, protest Fiorina at Iowa game
Robert Perkins @PerkDawg25
@JebBush Hey the brunette in the #7 jersey looks cute. Can you get me her number?
Ari Melber Verified account @AriMelber
“Get this man some Fireball!” a college student cried out… offering Trump the cinnamon-flavored whiskey.
College football fans, consider yourselves on notice this weekend — and every other fall Saturday until November 2016: Politicians are looking to hijack pre-game festivities.
Consider the scene last week in Knoxville, when a few hundred football fans broke off from their tailgates to listen to Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush give a three-minute stump speech before descending into the throng of students for a round of pictures.
Marco Rubio and Donald Trump have waded through crowds of college football fans to toss back a few beers and sample barbecue before big games. And Carly Fiorina faced down protesters — and a woman dressed as a birth control pill — during her trips to a vaunted rivalry game.
The packed GOP field is looking for any edge it can get in states with early votes. And with the rise of the SEC primary — the regional vote in mostly Southeastern states spearheaded by Georgia election officials — the college football tailgate has become a can’t-miss event for many candidates.
Four GOP contenders attended the Iowa-Iowa State rivalry game in early September, as students trailed them with offers of beers and attempts at selfies. “Get this man a Fireball,” one student called to Trump, referring to the spicy cinnamon-flavored booze.
Fiorina followed a few weeks later by joining fans — and a few hecklers — at the University of Iowa stadium. She was followed by about a dozen protesters who criticized her opposition to abortion, chanting “women are watching” as they shouted at her.
In the final rush of last year’s gubernatorial race, former state Sen. Jason Carter, a die-hard University of Georgia fan, went to Jacksonville, Fla., to campaign amid the tailgaters before the annual Georgia-Florida grudge match.
It's a strategy that helps insulate the candidates from reporter's questions — it's hard to probe them on the day's issues when they are surrounded by adoring fans in a self-protecting selfie scrum. And it also helps humanize politicians while tying them to a popular cause.
“Politicians are always looking for audiences, and football games bring together tens of thousands of people. You’re going to meet some of them, and you’re going to get a buzz,” said Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political scientist.
“And for someone like Jeb Bush, who hasn’t played that well in the two debates so far,” Bullock said, “it gives them a chance to show he’s a normal guy.”
No candidate has embraced the tailgate campaign as fervently as Bush, a former Florida governor who plans four trips this football season deep into SEC country, including upcoming visits to Alabama and Mississippi for matchups in November.
When he last visited Athens — wearing neutral colors ahead of a game against South Carolina — Bush was late to an event at a tailgating spot because it took him about 25 minutes to wade through a crowd of students and supporters who wanted to snap pictures with him. It took him another hour to emerge from the selfie-scrum.
Bush’s SEC Selfie Tour went much the same way last Saturday in Knoxville, where a crowd of mostly students clad in Tennessee’s orange-and-white gathered in a patch of greenspace outside Neyland Stadium to hear the Republican’s pitch.
“Why not? There’s a ton of people already coming. I just want to hear what he has to say,” said Ben Kerr, a 20-year-old UGA student from Brunswick who considers himself undecided in next year’s contest.
“It’s a ready-made audience and you’re guaranteed to get a crowd,” Kerr said. “And when I’ve seen a candidate — and maybe met him — I’m more likely to vote for him.”
Robbie Robinson, another undecided voter, said Bush’s visit will stick with him.
“College football means the most to us in the South,” the 24-year-old said. “And if you show us you care about it, it means a lot.”
But does the politicking ruin the revelry? Kyle Jenkins, a 22-year-old student at the University of Tennessee, didn’t seem to mind.
“I’m surprised more aren’t doing it, to be honest,” he said.
That explains why Bush may step up his strategy if he wins the party’s nomination. He predicted more visits to SEC country through November 2016. Then he made a different sort of promise to the students huddled around him.
“I look forward to taking as many selfies as I humanly can,” Bush said before plunging into the crowd.
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