Dems Can't Keep Losing Dixie

[HAnnA MArin County]

I'm responding a little late to this, so I apologize if I repeat anyone's talking points, but can't the same be said about how Republicans can't keep losing New England (I assume we're talking about the presidential level)?

I disagree that Democrats can't keep losing Dixie. Democrats can still win the White House without Dixie - all John Kerry needed was Ohio and he would have won. It'd be nice if we could win Dixie, but the realignment of the Solid South has destroyed that hope. Depending upon your definition of Dixie, I don't see Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia voting for a Democrat at the presidential level anytime soon. Yes, Jimmy Carter won Georgia (obviously, since he was from there), but even the WASP Southerner Bill Clinton lost Georgia both times, as did he lose Mississippi and Alabama. The racial polarization of voters is just too strong in Dixie, as unfortunate as that is, you have one party that's perceived as the white man's party and the other as the black man's party. That's my definition of Dixie - the Deep South, if you will - those three states. As for what other states I'd consider Southern United States, I'd put Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida in this category. Democrats have had some success in these states at the local and state level, but federal level is another story.

That being said, Democrats have won those states since the realignment of the Solid South, so that's evidence that those states are winnable. However, as has been mentioned on here before, "big city intellectual liberals" like John Kerry and Barack Obama do not fit the "mold" of a winnable Democrat in this area (I'd call them New Democrats) as opposed to a Bill (or Hillary) Clinton or a John Edwards (minus the adulterer and scumbag that he is) - a more traditional Democrat. Given the way things are going now, I'm not sure if Obama will carry Virginia, North Carolina and Florida again in 2012, so some may speculate that the South is turning away from the Democrats again.

[HAnnA MArin County]

even the WASP Southerner Bill Clinton lost Georgia both times

No, he didn't. Clinton won Georgia in 1992.

I was just getting ready to correct myself when I saw this, thanks. The NyQuil is malfunctioning with my brain - maybe I should just stop while I'm ahead, ha. Thanks for the correction.