After all the negative publicity surrounding Frist's Securities and Exchange Commission investigation for insider trading on his Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) stock, Frist and VOLPAC are sporting a new, youthful look that may appeal to a new generation of voting youth (and perhaps draw over some left-leaning fence-sitters?). Frist said on the VOLPAC website, he's been blogging for a while but he's new to podcasting and is consoled to be unaware who has fallen asleep listening (eh...or something to that affect).

Furthering attempts to reach a new audience for the VOLPAC agenda, Frist has opened the doors for a day to liberals who may be considering throwing some money his way. Sexy cowboy belt-buckle invitations sent on behalf of the "5th Annual VOLPAC '06 Weekend" in Nashville on April 21-23 were reminiscent of "Brokeback Mountain", requiring the invitee to unbuckle a cowboy's pants and look inside to see what the message was all about.

From the Washington Post:

"The back of the card shows the cowboy from behind with a red flowered handkerchief sticking out of his right pocket. Wait a minute — wasn't there something about how this used to be some kind of code in the gay community years ago? A way to signal each other in crowded, noisy bars?"

It's unclear what message Frist and VOLPAC are trying to convey with this dalliance, if they are poking fun at the present image of cowboys (being that this event takes place in Nashville, home of country music) in stereotypical southern tradition of putting on blackface or if they've merely taken a clumsy foray into unfamiliar territory and made an ill-conceived choice of association. Whatever the case, unless Brokeback Mountain stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger will be in attendance at the Nashville event, Bill Frist and cohorts (although admittedly about as publicly sensational as Martha Stewart) may not be as much of a draw as their sexy invitation implies.

Will Bill Frist's podcasts post VOLPAC Weekend dish scandals and sensations? It's doubtful. According to his website, he says he'll be "posting audio updates from Washington, D.C. about legislation on the Senate floor and from across America as I campaign with common sense conservative candidates."

Yawn.