For South, A Waning Hold on Politics

[CTLawGuy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/us/politics/11south.html

For South, a Waning Hold on National Politics



By ADAM NOSSITER
Published: November 10, 2008
VERNON, Ala. — Fear of the politician with the unusual name and look did not end with last Tuesday’s vote in this rural red swatch where buck heads and rifles hang on the wall. This corner of the Deep South still resonates with negative feelings about the race of President-elect Barack Obama.


The region’s absence from Mr. Obama’s winning formula means it “is becoming distinctly less important,” said Wayne Parent, a political scientist at Louisiana State University. “The South has moved from being the center of the political universe to being an outside player in presidential politics.”

One reason for that is that the South is no longer a solid voting bloc. Along the Atlantic Coast, parts of the “suburban South,” notably Virginia and North Carolina, made history last week in breaking from their Confederate past and supporting Mr. Obama. Those states have experienced an influx of better educated and more prosperous voters in recent years, pointing them in a different political direction than states farther west, like Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, and Appalachian sections of Kentucky and Tennessee.


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These people in the article are scary...

[johnnyrocket]

1. Huzzah! I like I've said, THE END OF SOUTHERN RULE! We're free again!

[CTLawGuy]

2. amen to that!

but give credit to VA, NC, and FL, who came to the light side.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

3. It's WANIN' you tarn fool! n/t

[blitzen]

4. That's a fellow DUer quoted there....

Hey, Wayne--what's up?

[CTLawGuy]

5. I did not know that

that is cool!

[blitzen]

6. Yeah, he's my next door neighbor....

and an undercover DUer.

[Juche]

7. The solid south is becoming the swing south

Of the 13 southern states 2/3 of their electoral votes are in 5 states: Texas, Florida, Georgia, Virginia & NC. Those states are all either swing states or will become swing states within the next 4-8 years.

Let the GOP keep Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and all the other southern states with their combined 50 electoral votes. Its less than California.

[Kalyke]

8. Wrong.

The South is still voting for Republicans at alarming rates because we have no MEDIA CHOICES. It's all right-wing, all the time.

We're not dumb, down here. Just misinformed.

And, before anyone asks: No. There is no Randi Rhodes or Stephanie Miller or even Lionel. There is only right-wing radio.

P.S. My area hosts ORNL and all the brillant scientists who come to work there. We have that influx of prosperous and educated people as a result, yet we still vote overwhelmingly Republican. Why? Not childhood or secondary education, but adult education, or lack thereof.

[CTLawGuy]

9. what part of the country HAS media choices??

I call racism personally.

Via CNN exit polls

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls.main/

Among White Voters

SOUTH
Oklahoma McCain 71% Obama 29%
Arkansas McCain 68% Obama 30%
Louisiana McCain 84% Obama 14%
Alabama McCain 88% Obama 10%
Mississippi McCain 88% Obama 11%
Georgia McCain 76% Obama 23%
S. Carolina McCain 73% Obama 26%
Tennessee McCain 63% Obama 34%
Kentucky McCain 63% Obama 36%
West Va. McCain 57% Obama 41%

Virginia McCain 60% Obama 39%
N. Carolina McCain 64% Obama 35%
Florida McCain 56% Obama 42%

Compare to . . .

NEW ENGLAND
Connecticut McCain 46% Obama 51%
Mass. McCain 41% Obama 57%
R.I. McCain 39% Obama 58%
Vermont McCain 31% Obama 68%
N.H. McCain 44% Obama 54%
Maine McCain 40% Obama 58%

and....

SELECTED NON-SOUTHERN CLOSE STATES
Montana McCain 52% Obama 45%
Indiana McCain 54% Obama 45%
Missouri McCain 57% Obama 42%
Ohio McCain 52% Obama 48%
N. Dakota McCain 55% Obama 42%

White racial unity is strongest in southern states, even those won by Obama

[Kalyke]

10. Most of the rest of it.

Most of the country has SOME moderate to liberal radio. The South has none outside of Memphis and Atlanta.

I don't think racism is as much in play as you would like to believe. There is racism everywhere. Kerry lost by nearly the same vote totals in most of those states and he's white. The problem is the way in which the Democratic Brand is viewed by most Southerners who see everything through the right-wing media prism.

[CTLawGuy]

11. yes there is racism everywhere

but not to the degree that has been found in the south.

McCain did better among whites in VA, a state he lost, than in MO, a state he will probably win, or in ND, a state he DID win.