HARRISONBURG, Va. - The racial divides that have buttressed Republican power in the South for decades appear to be crumbling in this year's elections, loosening the GOP's firm grip on the region, political analysts and independent pollsters say.
More Campaign '08 CoverageThe South is still culturally conservative, and the deep South in particular is still challenging territory for Democrats, political specialists say. But demographic changes - including a migration of voters from other regions, as well as an increase in education and racial tolerance among some younger residents - have given Barack Obama and other Democrats an opening this year and are likely to change the electoral map in future elections, they said.
"There's definitely a shift going on," especially in states with larger cities, said Harry L. Wilson, director of the Center for Community Research at Roanoke College in Virginia. "If the Democrats are going to win these states back, this is the year to do it. I'm not saying a Republican couldn't win
back in 2012 or 2016, but they won't be able to take it for granted the way they have in the past."
The "Southern strategy," created by Richard Nixon's campaign in 1968, pitted white conservative voters against African-Americans, who had won landmark protections under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Once solid Democratic territory, the South became increasingly GOP-dominated, and except for Southern-born candidates such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the region has remained nearly impenetrable for Democratic presidential nominees. President Bush swept the South from Texas to Virginia in both 2000 and 2004.
more:http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/10/31/south_may_be_shifting_in_democrats_direction/