Democrats don't need Dixie

[hijinx87]

Democrats don't need Dixie

Right now, the Democrats are as excited about this election as any since 1992. They are positioned to win enough seats to capture the House of Representatives, and perhaps the Senate as well. For many Democrats, and particularly women or Baltimoreans with hometown pride, the thought of area native Nancy Pelosi becoming the first female speaker of the House is a heady prospect, indeed.

Whether Ms. Pelosi will get the 15 seats she needs to put her over the top depends less on how voters feel about her party than it does on their level of disgruntlement with the Republicans and President Bush, particularly on the issue of Iraq. What's not in doubt is whence the new Democrats who would form Ms. Pelosi's new majority caucus would come - or rather, not come: the South.

An electoral tide of sufficient magnitude next month would surely sweep out a few Southern Republicans. Former Tennessee football star Heath Shuler is a Democrat leading his race in western North Carolina. The Democrats also hope to pick up the seats in Florida and Texas vacated, respectively, by disgraced Mark Foley and deposed Minority Leader Tom DeLay.

But most Democratic victories will be won north of the Mason-Dixon Line or west of the Mississippi River. In fact, about three-quarters of the Republican-held seats in jeopardy are located in what I call the "4D rectangle" of states formed by connecting Dover, N.H.; Dover, Del.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Duluth, Minn.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.dems27oct27,0,7102233.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

as a southerner, I have very mixed emotions about this piece. but it does put our "southern problem" into a different perspective, and is a worthwhile read for that reason alone.

[BOSSHOG]

1. But we in Dixie want to be wanted

My democratic congressman will get reelected but so will my republican Senator (Mississippi.)

I like Dean's 50 state strategy. The bigger the majority the better and it is essential that every state be courted to some degree.

[hijinx87]

7. exactly. thus, my mixed reaction.

but ultimately, I want the progressive cause to succeed more than I want to live in a state that is included in "the wave". SC will follow sooner or later, I am sure.

[sweetpotato]

28. You are in SC?

I thought I was the only DUer in the state, other than the few who occasionally post in the state forum.

[hijinx87]

31. yep. charleston.

and we aren't quite alone. I see DU bumper stickers every now and then. but we are very thin on the ground around here.

[sweetpotato]

32. I love Charleston

I'm a lifelong Columbia resident myself.

[hijinx87]

33. lousy upstater!

:evilgrin:


kidding of course. :hi:

[Retired AF Dem]

2. Well, ok

I guess I wont get vote out here in Nov. Than again, fuck off.

[hijinx87]

8. um, are you speaking to me, or the author of the piece? n/t

[Retired AF Dem]

11. The author

[hijinx87]

12. well, to be honest . . .

I had much the same reaction as you.

But I had to face the plain fact that he made an outstanding case. As I have said, I didn't like it, but couldn't deny it.

[Kolesar]

14. Oh, please

A headline in a Baltimore paper is hardly a statement that the Democratic Party is dissing the South.

[Virginia Dare]

3. Dixie needs the Democrats....

we're getting slammed by the fundie nutjobs here, give us some rope.

[Hippo_Tron]

4. Arkansas, Virginia, Florida,and Missouri are southern states we can compete in

But I think that the rest are, for now, kind of out of the question for us. By that I mean strictly speaking on the presidential level. Governor and Senate races are up for grabs with the right circumstances even in the most red states. If Lott had retired and Mike Moore had run in Mississippi, control of the Senate would be looking a lot more likely for Democrats. Also, it's annoying to me that people don't count Missouri as the south just because it wasn't part of the confederacy. Most of the state, IMO, is southern in culture and only a part of it is midewst.

[Clark2008]

21. Ummm... Tennessee.

Dem governor and a Democrat leading or tied to replace Bill "Catkiller" Frist...

[Hippo_Tron]

35. Both of which are far more moderate than we want a national candidate to be

I wouldn't rule out Tennessee in '08 but I'm not predicting that it will be competative.

[Radical Activist]

5. Not winning a single Southern State sure worked in the last two Presidential elections.

NOT.

Yes, the civil rights movement caused Democrats to lose the South. The more recent problem is the hesitance of the Democratic Party to embrace economic issues and populist themes. That is what works in the South. Sadly, the issues that voters will most connect with run counter to the interests of the corporate donors the party increasingly relies on. We have to choose a side.

[ACK]

6. VA is the turning the corner - repost from earlier today

VA is the turning the corner more and more Dem momentum every year

But I swear Democrats don't want to take the border Southern states that are on the edge of coming over to our side.

No, they would rather have their scapegoat.

Why? Because the Democratic parties own goddamn fault the South went Repuke.

The Southern strategy worked because the Democrats never came out with a strategy for the South that isolated the racists and brought moderate working class southern voters and black voters together in a real voting block.

You had the solid fucking South right into the first election for Clinton and never had a decent response for how to deal with the wedge issues. No wonder the Dems were so surprised in 1994 at the Repuke Revolution. Clueless fucking shit.

Would rather keep losing and whining and wringing your hand and pointing at the mean old fucked up rednecks in the South where Dems lose by smaller margins than any other Repuke solid area. No we would not want to lower ourselves by going to south and putting together a coalition of poor whites and black voters. Fuck that.

Its easier to call us morons and move on.

[Clark2008]

22. You made me smile

:hug:

[gorfle]

34. Drop the anti-firearms agenda

The South is the land of God, Guns, and Guts.

I'm fortunate in that all of my Democratic candidates are pro-firearm. I think if the Democratic party dropped the anti-firearms stigma you'd be amazed how many Southern votes we would instantly pick up. Imagine having the NRA as a mouthpiece for the Democratic party!

[David Dunham]

9. To have a real majority, Dems really do need to win in Dixie

[bluestateguy]

10. This is horrendously bad advice

Certainly, the Democrats don't need all of the South--Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and South Carolina would be well out of reach in a presidential race. Yet Democrats can win other southern states, and compete in others, thereby forcing Republicans to campaign there. Campaigns are about resource allocation, and by writing off the South and handing it to Republicans, you'd be freeing up more money, more campaign visits and more personnel that the other side could allocate to marginal swing states, or even Democratic leaning states like New Jersey.

[hijinx87]

13. the flip side to that argument

is that the things you would have to say to make yourself competitive in the deep south would spook the living shit out of our base.

[Kolesar]

15. Protect Social Security, Health care for all, Raise the minimum wage,...

There is enough there to keep the gop on the run in every state.

[hijinx87]

18. exactly.

this is what confuses the living shit out of me during every presidential election cycle. as a political party, we dems seem to always concentrate on our differences than our wide range of issues on which we have common ground.

primaries become a blood bath. if it was our sacred intention to lose, we couldn't possibly be putting forth a greater effort.

and you needn't look any farther than any thread in GD:politics that has a possible candidates name in the subject to realize the truth of that.

edit for inadvertent :P

[BOSSHOG]

16. That is why we have to put up with

Mary Landrieu. I'm luke warm on her but if she espoused truly democratic ideals she's get trounced in a landslide. My congressman Gene Taylor is a conservative democrat but he is one more democrat in congress and I'll continue to support him because I know the neanderthals who have run against him in the past. They make santorum appear to be normal.

[Beacho]

17. We need all fifty

because 'just win' isn't what it's about.

We're not the Rove GOP that just believes that we only need fifty + .01% so we can get our way.

The people who work and raise their kids in the South are just as american and just as important in a coalition of the ENTIRE country that will make us stronger.

Only when everyone works together to solve our problems will any consensus be reached and only then will we solve the problems of this republic

[cally]

19. I think Dems have to try to compete in all 50 states

It won't help when supposed experts tell us that Nancy Pelosi represents Berkeley when she does not. She represents SF.

[hijinx87]

25. I think that is unrealistic

at least at this point in the game.

[ACK]

27. The 50 State Plan of Dean's seems to be working good

We are being competitive in VA and Tennessee for goodness sakes!

[cally]

29. And Nebraska and Iowa

States I would never had dreamed a Dem had a chance in. I think we have to try in all states.

[ACK]

30. Good damn point cally ... who the fuck thought Nebraska would be close?

I sure didn't. Iowans you almost saw eventually coming to their senses but figured Nebraska was safe.

[Clark2008]

20. The author of this piece is just as bigoted against the South

as he alleges we are against name your cause...

Therefore, he can kiss my sweet Southern Belle ass.

[Beacho]

23. That might have been the purpose of this 'hit' piece

Why not use the old 'North vs. South' means of separating people with common cause?

they've used everything else, race baiting, homo bashing, etc. Might as well use em all.

[Kolesar]

24. Please elaborate

Where is the instance of bigotry in the article?

[Beacho]

37. no obvious 'bigotry'

But it is divisive in it's subtext and plays into attitudes of some southerners and other 'fly over country' denizens that the 'coastal elites' don't care about them.

[Kolesar]

38. You are overly sensitive

The article is a political analysis with a loaded headline. It is not all those things that you read into it.

[Beacho]

39. You're entitled to your opinion

I see what I see.

BTW I'm a left coaster

[carolinayellowdog]

40. By the author of a book with an equally loaded title

In my experience, people who call others oversensitive are usually overly insensitive to implications and connotations of the remarks in question. E.g. "Macaca is just a made up nonsense word, what's the fuss?"

[Kolesar]

41. "Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South."

Again, there is no bigotry in the Baltimore article. And if a title like that sets somebody off, they ought to sit back and count to ten before saying anything. (Pssst, it's really not a big deal)

[brentspeak]

44. As a NJ resident, I have to say that I'M ticked off at Schaller's piece

[Claire Beth]

26. I'm in Tennessee...

and I long for the time that TN will be a blue state. I used to be a republican and I saw the light so I have to believe that there are others who can come around to seeing the lies of the repukes.

:dem:

[carolinayellowdog]

36. A dishonest, false headline

While it might be true to say that the majority of House and Senate seats that will flip in this election are outside the South, the header is absolutely false as stated. "Democrats don't need Dixie" is a huge insult to all the Southern Democrats in Congress who now represent FOUR DOZEN House districts across the region. And to all of us Southern Democrats who put them there. If all those flipped to Republicans, we'd lose all hope of ever regaining the House, so it is absolutely false to say that Democrats don't need Dixie. We are not expendable! This author is making a name for himself, and perhaps some money too, by targeting tens of millions of Southern Democrats and telling Democrats outside the South that our votes are worthless.

It is the electoral college that renders our votes worthless in the Presidential election if the Democratic candidate does not carry our entire state. But we have many solid Dem seats in the South. It would make a lot more sense to argue that Democrats don't need the Great Plains, but no one enjoys scapegoating that region.

[MrCoffee]

42. This is absolute fucking horseshit...

and Thomas F. Schaller can cram it with walnuts.

[brentspeak]

43. Good grief. Thomas F. Schaller is a professor to avoid at that campus

The Democrats might be able to pull something off this time around with not as many Southern victories as hoped for, but the party is doomed to extinction if more Southern seats are not picked up in the future.

After reading this op-ed, I'd say that Schaller is the political science equivilent of a biology professor who teaches Creationism.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

45. The Democratic Party can't concede the "solid South" to the Republicans forever, and

hope to have any success.

[mentalsolstice]

46. Think About 2000 & 2004

Where would we be if * had won the electoral and popular vote outright both times? The fact that he didn't win the popular vote in 2000, and it was close in 2004, we suspect that there was country-wide election fraud. As disheartening as that is, it has also kept us vigilant, every single day this crooked administration has been in DC. Without a close popular vote, many of us would have simply gone home and put our collective heads under the covers over the last 6 years. I live in Alabama, and I know it'll be red for a long time to come. However, when you look at sheer numbers, and not what state they come from, I realize the Dems need me as much as I need them. Without Gore, Clinton, Kerry, Obama, Clark, Edwards, etc., I would have lost my sanity several years ago. :silly: