The Democratic party's roots are in the rural areas of this country. This , plus the urban immigrants from the 19th century made it the majority party for most of the 20th century.

The Democratic party started having problems when it took on issues like segregation, gay rights, and other programs that challenged the social status quo. I'm not saying that the Democratic party shouldn't have tackled those issues, but these issues allowed the Republicans, starting in 1968 to claim to be the party of American values. First came the "Law and Order" as part of the Southern Strategy. Then came the "Moral Majority". And, last the Christian Core.

Tackling these issues caused the Democratic party to retreat to the urban core. The Democrats lost the South (which was once the home to much of the progressive movement) and the suburbs. The Democratic map shows the party retreating to the Northeast and the West coast. Everything else was Republican fly-over territory.

Fortunately, America is starting to catch up a bit to the changes that first started in the 1960s. We can see this as a coalition of Southern White Moderates and Blacks have put several seats in the House back into play. We see Democratic strength growing in the suburban areas too. We also see this in the West. Maybe one day, the Democratic party will return to the rural South and to Appalachia.

However, it also means that the Democratic party will become a much broader party, and that the various factions must put aside their differences to unite for more common causes. It means pushing environmentalism as a pocketbook issue rather than a anti-business issue. It means understanding that the Democratic party cannot be a strictly liberal party (as in the left wing sense). The Democratic party will have moderates and conservatives once again.

Obama has a good chance in Rural America. These people aren't looking for a fellow "hick" in office. They are looking for someone who will attempt to understand their issues. You can be a fairly well off, Black politician from Chicago and still win their hearts and their vote.

The idea is to be understanding and listen. If any president was an elitist, it was Roosevelt. He was rich, well bred, college graduate who lived in a mansion. But he had no problems connecting to the rural poor. They didn't care if he was rich, they just wanted someone to care about them.

It's that simple. If you don't believe me, just ask them.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=168561&title=indecision-2008-west-virginia

ByrdMarshall's 1st post in this thread has it right, and there are other reasons besides the ones he gives. I don’t know about Appalachia, but in the rural west where I live it wouldn’t even occur to many people to not vote Republican. And after decades of both circumstantial (if you live in a small, largely homogenous and insular society you tend to not trust strangers) and media generated xenophobia we like folks we think are like us- which is why they vote for people like George W. Bush. Whether the stranger is the new (probably lib’ral) urban ex-pat, someone with dark skin from another country, or the entire rest of the world, he is to be feared because perceived familiarity trumps everything else- including self-interest. With no exposure to anything but what your neighbors tell you and the steady diet of toxic fear the media has fed us for decades now, it would require considerable work to think otherwise. And who has the time when we are just trying to keep the wolf from the door? This is a matter of human nature, but not as prevalent in urban areas where the multi-cultural future has already arrived.

So should Obama try and sell himself to people who will not vote for him anyway? The obvious answer is: Why should he? Contrary to what Dee Davis says in the article, Obama can probably carry enough of the coastal, urban, black and educated voters to blow Appalachia and the rural-red West, South and Midwest off. And given the tenor of Davis' argument, maybe he should. Like most Americans in general, he wants to be pandered to- and what we have now is the result of this. Until we stop voting for people because we think we’d like to drink a beer with them we’re going to continue to screw ourselves- and get what we deserve. The less obvious and better answer is yes- Obama should campaign in rural states. He might change a few minds there, but more importantly it would show the rest of us who now recognize the Republican disaster for what it is but have been lukewarm to the Dems in the recent past, that he cares- and that there is an alternative to more of the same.

The columnist was right to discuss the Democratic Party's problems with rural voters, but the problems are many-faceted and involve more than a candidate's race or supposed level of condescension. I live in "Appalachia", am middle-class, voted for Obama in my state's primary, and am a long-term Democrat.

What discourages me are the attitudes that come out in these postings. As if Appalachia or Rural America or even Urban America were voting blocks. With the electoral college, it isn't going to matter much whether voters in "Appalachia" vote one way or the other. West Virginia is maybe the only really Appalachian Mountain state, and how many electoral votes does it have. The mountain range extends from New York to Georgia, and there are a lot of different constituencies in those states.

The Democratic Party will have to decide on issues that appeal to a broad spectrum of voters in many different regions of the country.

Quick question Dee, what was West Virginia's union density in 1988 and what was it in 2004?

Follow up, how much does this have to do with Dukakis's victory in WV and Kerry's loss?

When people have an institution they trust telling them to vote one way and no similar institution telling them anything else, they vote the way that institution tells them to vote. If a region has churches and no unions, they'll vote however the church tells them. Democrats can either work to build union density or they can take over churches (churches aren't naturally right-wing institutions. Republicans took over most churches) or we can pray for an election climate like the one we have today, even though with all this wind behind our backs we're still worrying.