Reply #3: I was raised in the South and I am

[GumboYaYa]

not ashamed to admit that there are parts of my Southern heritage that are very dear to me. I'll give you my perspective on this issue and take it for what its worth (which is basically nothing).

The South and Southerners are not the monolith that some outsiders seem to thing. Southerners are a diverse group, just like any other part of the country. Among those people are overt bigots of the worst sort, but the group also includes liberal white Democrats, African Americans, and a growing Latin American population. In some areas of the South the latter group is growing and the former group is diminishing.

When Southerners hear that others in the party want to "write-off" the South, it upsets us because we know the reality on the ground. We know that there are electoral votes to be had with the right effort. It is very frustrating to see states like LA, NC, AR, and FL lumped together as part of an unwinnable South. Liberal Southerners want our compatriots from other regions to stop assuming we are all the same and look at the facts.

Democrats have a tendency to make broad sweeping statements about the South and Southerners that they would never make about other groups of people or regions and assume that all Southerners are the stereotyped ignorant Rednecks. In no way am I saying that we should ignore the bigotry that exists in the South, but bigotry exists everywhere and ignorance is not limited to the South.

If the Democrats will begin to recognize the diversity in the South and stop the condescending preachiness to Southerners (don't deny it, because it is extremely prevalent here at DU), they will have a much better chance to win several Southern states.