Southern Democrats

R. Neal at KnoxViews points us to the cover story from this week's The Nation where Bob Moser convincingly argues that the greatest mistake the Democrats have made in the last 35 years, and the mistake they continue to make, is writing off the South.

Moser, like myself, is a rabid supporter of Howard Dean's 50 state strategy. Dean has reinvigorated the party in the South, Great Plains, and mountain states. While Paul Begala and James Carville may call funding Democratic candidates in Alabama and Nebraska a waste of money, Moser shows that populist Democrats who don't run as Republican-lite but instead show they really care about the working and middle class people of the nation can win all over the nation, including the South. Moser excoriates the national party for not following Dean's strategy and not funding candidates in very winnable races across the region. He reminds us that Jim Webb was not supported by the party establishment and he won in Virginia and that John Yarmuth won over Republican incumbent Anne Northup in Kentucky without money from the party. He tells us the sad story of North Carolina Democrat Larry Kissell who ran what seemed like a hopeless race against the incumbent Republican Robin Hayes, the 6th richest person in Congress. Kissell pleaded with the establishment for money. He got none. He lost to Hayes by 329 votes. How many races could we have won if a little less money went to sorta-Democrat Harold Ford and was spread around the South?

Democrats need to be aggressive in the South. They need to stand for what they believe in. We don't have to run Heath Shuler to win in the region. If we run candidates who are locally popular, who have strong beliefs in economic and racial liberalism, and who can get good voter turnout from both blacks and whites (and increasingly Latinos as well), we can win all over the South. More importantly, the longer the national party writes off this entire region, the longer it will be before the Democrats become the nation's dominant party again. The first step is to have a presidential candidate in 2008 who is enthusiastic about campaigning in the South. It doesn't have to be a southerner, as Howard Dean is showing. Edwards obviously would be a good choice here. Richardson too. Obama, not sure. Clinton, hard to say. Bill of course is great in the South. Would she build upon that?