You did not address his point about immigration and other factors changing the demographic makeup of the region in the future.

...but I wouldn't vote for him again. He's a classic Corporate sellout Democrat. Look at his positions on Net Neutrality and FISA.

And yes, without macaca, George Allen would now be on his way to the White House. Allen is such a vacuous, vapid frat boy, he makes the Current Occupant look like genius material.

Soon, Virginia will have 2 Dem senators. I have been canvassing within one of the most conservative areas of Virginia (Cantor's Richmond West End hometown), and there are R's who are not going to vote for McCain or Gilmore. "This is the worst presidency we have ever seen, we need a change" Or "Warner is a good. I like him." That is all it takes.

I have also been reading the "Facts about Reconstruction" by Lynch. Some people shift parties only because the spoils are better on the other side. Unfortunately, this is still strong within the South. Spoils are the deciding factor and once the balance has shifted, it is shifted strongly.

That response is a serious over simplification of the South. As a son of the South, and a liberal - trust me - this is a very complicated region for democrats. Its best to notice who the South voted for during the republican primaries - Huckabee. The South (outside of the major urban areas) are very socially conservative (but not as prejudiced as you may think). The Appalachian region has traditionally been more racist than the rest of the south, but the two are not the same place. If democrats want to win the south - they must embrace their own faith. I'm not very religious myself but its truly the key politically. I think bottom line - the liberals are mostly located in dense areas and frequently leave for better opportunities elsewhere. The liberals don't vote (because why bother!) and don't argue politics with their conservative brothers and sisters (Southern ideas of politeness). If anything, the bottom line is to help the liberals stay in the South and stop generalizing. It's really all about the __southern liberal flight__

I grew up in Virginia. My relatives come from West Virginia and North Carolina. I went to school in Georgia, and then moved to the New York suburbs for my first job. People from the north are always skeptical of this, but I encountered more overt, ugly racism in NY than I'd ever seen in Richmond, Atlanta or Chapel Hill.

With our "winner take all" voting system, the Democrats might never regain the South, at least not in my lifetime. People in the South are definitely more conservative when it comes to religion, and that may be a stumbling block for the Democrats that they just can't overcome, at least not far enough to carry 51% of the vote in most Southern states. But I think it's a mistake to look at the South and see a monolith of racist poor white people. That's a vast oversimplification.

If we had a voting system where every vote counted equally, no matter what state you lived in, then I think you'd see a very different picture. You'd see parts of the South that were solidly blue, and parts of the North that were solidly red. But because of the "winner take all" system, the Democrats have ignored states they can't win - and left liberals in those states feeling like there's no point in being politically active. When I lived in Georgia, I often wondered why I even bothered to vote.

If the fine people of the Tarheel State could vote for a police state dictator for life, they would. All you need to do to win here is scare people about crime, gangs and immigrants and tell the voters you'll move mountains to hire 1.7 law enforcement officers per civilian. And then when you get elected, go out and do just that. I live in NC where the Gov Lt Gov and both houses of the legislature are Democratic. Trust me, we have cops who's job it is is to do nothing but drive around and photograph 'gang tags'. Since we have 5 or 6 overlapping police forces we have the bandwidth for that. Our unemployment is 6.5% a full point over the national average and that includes an explosion in government employment particularly law enforcement.

We have people who get angry when someone asks them why they need to carry TWO concealed weapons to church.

Fuck the south, Sherman didn't burn enough of it down.

I didn't know whether to post this here or in response to Moser, so I decided to go contrary. I live in Nashville, Tennessee and have taken a few drives through some backcountry this year, including back highways in North Georgia. I have seen a total of three--that is a TOTAL of three--stickers, yard signs, etc. supporting McCain. Three. Count it.

I have seen an overwhelming amount of stickers, yard signs, plaques, window signs, marquees, posters (including a hand painted one down the street) for Obama.

Granted, I have seen my share of signage for the defunct Ron Paul and some people still have their W stickers out (Lord knows I still have my "No W"). But, I see it as a small step towards victory.

Here's to hope!

Nice phraseology, Tom. I might have said, "ignorant, hate-filled racists" who'd rather get fucked over by Republicans than rub two brain cells together.

A distinction here needs to be made between presidential campaigns and congressional and Senate races.

The Democrats still face significant challenges making inroads into the deep south in terms of presidential politics (I'd exclude the mid-Atlantic states -- some major challenges here, but Obama has a realistic shot this year especially in Virginia and somewhat longer odds in North Carolina).

However, the Democratic brand HAS made inroads with economic populist messages the past two election cycles in several races for congress and statewide office -- not just in Virginia (e.g. witness the Childers win in Mississippi -- a Senate seat may very well flip as well this election cycle in that state; its worth remembering too that Georgia had a Democratic Senator as recently as 2002 with Max Cleeland).

The ability to win these areas requires neutralizing social issues first and then putting those economic issues front and center.

The challenge for a national Democratic figure -- especially in large swaths of rural areas -- is the mistrust of perceived outsiders and the resistance to change. No level of message and emphasis alone will overcome those cultural barriers -- it requires a long investment in the region in terms of time and energy and building relationships.

In the case of Obama, if he does win in November, the real test will be in terms of economic performance over the next few years. If those areas of the south hostile to him now do OK economically over the next few years, I expect that attitudes towards him and the national party will follow suit gradually.

Even then, it still may take another generation in some places to see a real change in attitudes.