Arguing For The South
Submitted by George Pence on Tue, 12/19/2006 - 4:19am
Nationally, one of the hottest topics in progressive politics is whether or not the Democratic Party should consider the South a lost cause.
Thirty years ago that subject would have been considered absurd on its face. Back then the South was the indispensable partner in Roosevelt's New Deal coalition. The South was the lynch pin, the hinge, the fulcrum of Democratic power. Now some believe that it is the great nemesis of the Democratic Party, and chasing after the South is about as useful, and ennobling, as calling your ex-wife and asking her for a date.
This argument has both its advocates, and its critics throughout the progressive movement. Howard Dean has staked tremendous political capital on his "50 State Strategy" and the contention that a truly national party must compete everywhere. Other influential leaders in the party, like Rahm Emmanuel, would argue that spending fifty cents on grass roots organizing in Mississippi is fifty cents wasted.
The Democratic Leadership Council was built on the premise that "Third Way Democrats" could tack right and be competitive - especially in the South. Yet many doctrinaire liberals believe that the country is permanently divided along an axis that extends from Philadelphia to Los Angeles; what's above that line is mostly blue, and what's below it is almost entirely red. For them that is the new reality.
By virtue of our zip code most people at BlueNC fall on the Howard Dean side of the argument, (Yea Howard!) Here, the fact of our inevitable success is the first principle of faith.
However, we'd be foolish not to follow the conversation and be aware of its fundamental arguments. The gospel of those who see the South as a lost cause is the hugely influential book "Whistling Past Dixie" by Tom Schaller. He's now a professor at The University of Maryland, but Schaller received his PhD at The University of North Carolina. The first chapter of that book is available on the web, and it's an excellent synopsis of Shaller's major arguments.
Unfortunately, there is not yet a similar book to make the counter argument. What is bubbling up, especially in the wake of the last election, are victories that indicate a quickening pulse for the populist movement in the South. These tangible gains have encouraged pundits to begin rethinking the issue and some of their ideas about how the South can be politically reborn are making it into print.
This week Steven Crockett, a Southern radio personality from Democratic Talk Radio, has a piece at OpEdNews.com entitled, "A Democratic Southern Strategy - Compete!" It's well worth reading, in spite of a few maddening typos. He emphasizes the recent progress the Democratic Party has made in the South and suggests vulnerable Republican targets that should be at the top of the Democratic Party hit list (Virginia Foxx is on that list.)
Of even more interest are his ideas for growing the party in the South organizationally. One of those ideas comes right out of the play book used originally by the Republican Party to build its Southern power base. He writes...
In many Southern rural counties, the Democratic Party lacks the infrastructure needed to win campaigns. Strong Democratic areas around the nation should partner with a struggling southern rural county Democratic Party to help them raise money, develop public relations operations, candidate recruitment programs and GOTV machinery. A small contribution of resources in those areas should show dramatic results in future elections.
That might be a thought; having something like the Illinois' Cook County Democratic Party financially kick start high potential Southern counties. Anyway, have at it. If anyone runs across similar articles, posting a link to them here would be a service to us all.
Pushing Party Infrastructure
is nothing new to those of us who have struggled to help candidates compete in counties with no party infrastructure.
Jerry Meek has been pushing it and the WNC Dems have experienced a great deal of success. From what I can tell, many of the worst areas are considered Democratic strongholds. Mecklenburg has no party. There are 41 of 195 precincts that are organized.(As of the last numbers I counted) There is a group working to organize the precincts. It isn't always a matter of having someone come show the way. It's a matter of getting the people out of the party leadership who are just doing it to be part of the cool kids.
I won't have a chance to follow the links until I get back from the school routine and some stealth Christmas shopping, but thanks for rounding them up.
Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.
***************************
Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
Orange reached out.
In the last election, Orange county "adopted" a Kissell county. I know Graig could tell you all about this, don't know if he is around though. We have good, well-organized counties here in North Carolina that should continue reaching out and lifting up other counties. Those counties could then pay it forward to a neighboring county.
I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for. ~ Thornton Wilder
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
A lot of folks came to help with GOTV
but it's more than that. Meck has a complete breakdown of the party structure and the leadership shows know inclination to fix things. They don't try to organize. They just try to figure creative ways to cluster the precincts to have a quorum. I don't think it's a matter of not knowing how to organize. But we're working on it....and I'll leave it at that. :)
Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.
***************************
Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
This may be too obvious to state
but would Heath Shuler have won, and would Larry Kissell have come within 329 votes, if Howard Dean had not been pushing his 50-state strategy? Isn't there at least a good possibility Larry would have won too, if the DNC had helped him out just a little teeny bit more?
btw, maybe now is a good time to introduce myself. I'm a Johnston County Democrat. My good friend Leslie H. introduced my to this blog early this year, and I have been checking in throughout the campaign, but rarely posting until now. So, Hi y'all, thanks for keeping us lurkers up to date on what's happening.
Hi ya, C. Dog.
Thanks for introducing yourself. Nice to meet ya, and welcome!
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
lurker my butt.
What's happening in Johnston County??? My mom's family (Haller and Creech) are all from Johnston County.
I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for. ~ Thornton Wilder
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
c. dog is a lurker here
but a very active, engaged, enlightening presence on the local Johnston discussion boards. C. dog spreads the Dem mssg in the reddest of online communities and I can tell ya', that is a no-fun dirty-business some days.
I totally vouch for C.dog. It'll be a good fortune to have that neongreen presence around here more often. :)
"They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum Then they charged the people a dollar 'n a half just to see 'em. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
Not to be misunderstood...
my intent was, hey you! quit lurking and hop in the tub...wait...what is the opposite metaphor for lurking. Step into the light? There you go, step on in, the water's great. No, that's not right....
I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for. ~ Thornton Wilder
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
ah! I see :)
I missed it. This job puts me in just the right frame of mind for some serious snark missing some days. :) Thanks for your patience, Robert P.
"They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum Then they charged the people a dollar 'n a half just to see 'em. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
I've been making some
I've been making some similar arguments about Schaller's book, and directly to Schaller -- not so much to challenge his near-term electoral strategy, but to point out the momentum of Dems in the South, and especially NC, and to argue that a better understanding of the facts on the ground might have put Kissell in Congress.
I summed up several blog posts and a couple of conversations with Schaller in this recent newspaper column.
Schaller has responded positively, including this comment in Sunday's thread at FiredogLake.
Ed's stuff
If you haven't followed Ed's coverage, it's worth a look for sure.
With regard to mega-strategies about abandoning or not-abandoning any region or class of person or population sub-segment or whatever . . . they all seem ludicrous to me on their face. When you're sitting amidst a gaggle of pundits gazing out from your DC office (I'm not talking about Schaller here) it can be tempting to blur the picture in hopes of seeing transcendent patterns. It's even possible to do that with neural-modeling, advanced statistical techniques that identify subtle trends in data.
But when you do this in a sustained fashion, you inevitably succumb to the "flaw of averages." Because the truth is, there are no "average candidates" that "average voters" choose in "average elections."
The country is intensely divided in some ways, but strikingly coherent and unified in others. To focus on the division is foolish if you hope to succeed in governing. If the Party of Greed has taught us anything, it is this.
Dean's 50-state strategy is the only antidote to the flaw of averages. It recognizes that every state . . . indeed, every district . . . is unique. And it focuses on the single thing that matters more than any of our scheming and dreaming: the candidate.
In the final analysis, it is the Candidate that makes the difference. Sure there are die-hards on both sides who will never cross the line. But as more and more citizens define themselves as independent, the quality of the candidate is what matters most.
We read far too much into the trials and tribulations of John Kerry when we leap from his defeat into the business of regional pontificating. The only place we should leap is into the hunt for the very best candidates each and every time. That means digging them up, supporting them passionately, helping them raising money, singing their praises, crying in their beer, whatever it takes to let good people see that it's possible to run and come close . . . and then run again and win.
That's what Larry Kissell is going to do . . . and that's what we need to encourage in every district currently held hostage by the Party of Greed.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
The Electoral College
Damn, Anglico, you can really write... and this is a great example. Right on all points from my point of view.
What does occur to me is that this current issue about slicing and dicing up States, some red, some blue, some worth emphasis and some not, is entirely driven by that great curse of our founding fathers - THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE.
If not for the electoral college, the Kerry-Edwards ticket would have made more than one early trip to Raleigh. They would have been in Charlotte and Raleigh with repeated campaign stops and the voters there would have been just as important as the voters in Cincinnati or Jacksonville. As it is, if you live in a blue city, like Salt Lake City, in a red State, like Utah, you wind up counting for nothing.
We give those 18th century geniuses who wrote our constitution a great deal of reverence, and in many ways they deserve it. However, among their better ideas were not the acceptance of slavery, failing to give women the vote, the indirect election of Senators, the electoral college etc. etc. Most of the bad ideas, and all of the very worst, have been rectified.
How long will it be before we turn our attention to the electoral college?
I'm 56 years old. I moved to North Carolina five years ago. The previous twenty-five years I spent as a resident of Chicago's north shore and before that Wisconsin, Utah and California. I live in Moore County. My Congressman is Howard Coble, my State Sen
What is "The South"
I think, as much as we hate to admit it, that NC is changing from the rest of "The South". VA for instance has completely ceased to be from "The South" in the last ten years I think. Look at their Governor elections, their Senate election, their legislature. They might not be blue, more purple, but they have ceased to be "The South". The same realignment may have just begun in North Carolina with this past election.
Think about this. If someone, say Brad Miller, wins against Dole in 08. And, if a Democrat wins or comes "this close" to winning NC's Presidential vote on November 4th. And, if we hold our seven congressional seats and pick up a Kissell win. And, if we continue to hold the Governorship, Lt. Governorship, NC House, and NC Senate. The, are we not a Blue state? And, will that change not be due largely to the huge influx of Democratic voters to the Charlotte/RTP/Coastal areas?
At what point do we quit describing ourselves politically based on the lines of demarcation drawn by Mr. Mason and Mr. Dixon?
I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for. ~ Thornton Wilder
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
Thanks for the links
Ed, thanks for the links. Your column, I thought, was right on the money. I do think Schaller has a way to go in his thinking - it seems to me he only conceded local support in red states, not the kind of resources that could have made the difference in Larry Kissell's campaign, for example. I understand that resources are limited, and must be allocated as effectively as possible. That allocation, I'm sure, is more art than science, but still, I really hate the idea of writing off a whole region, even temporarily. I do think he's right that pandering to racist and ultra-conservative interests is counterproductive. What we need to do instead is show voters that progressive, populist policies are in the best interest of the whole country.
Thanks for the welcome, Anglico & Robert P. JoCo is still pretty red, but we're making progress. We're better organized than we were in '04, and we'll be even better organized in '08. Lots of committed folks are working hard at that.
In Dixie land I'll take my stand.
There is a spirited debate of sorts going on in the pages of The Nation over this book. Bob Moser wrote "A New Southern Strategy", an article in November 27th issue. It's subscription only but I'll summarize the current debate:
This week in the letters page, Jay Walljasper, whose opinion I would ordinarily respect, writes "knowingly" in response:
This idiot savant approach to "Southern" politics (whatever that really is) is infuriating. It is condescending and based on a fictionalized image of the south frozen in time, the snow filled streets of Minneapolis from where Walljasper writes and Rahm Emmanuel's mind.
Bob Moser writes in response:
The people of the "South" (whatever that is) have been starved of a positive progressive agenda for years with mealy-mouth policies that have abandonded them to hordes of nay-saying conservatives. Don't blow off the "South" (whatever that is) like so much African genocide. Do something about it. Talk and act like progressive Democrats. We'll do the rest.
Whistling Daily Kos
I got mad enough to post this on Daily Kos
Southern Obsession
http://andrewjacksondem.com
In the past month political pundits have analyzed, re-analyzed, crunched, and re-crunched the numbers of the 2006 election in an attempt to determine just what was on the minds of voters and how Democrats pulled off an amazing mid-term victory. Democrats were competitive across all regions of the country because of the DNC's 50 state strategy that ceeded no territory to Republicans. The strategies success was apparent with victories in the south and mountain west over incumbent members of the House and Senate (Shuler, Tester, and Webb).
Now, amidst the success of the mid-term elections, some Democrats are attempting to persuade the party to abandon the successful playbook of '06 and begin writting off chunks of our country. If 2006 taught Democrats anything, it is that the nation wants a party with a vision that can unite us as people. Democrats were successful at talking economic populism and a return to common sense foreign policy. We nationalized the election giving Americans a reason to vote Democratic.
Recent publications, i.e. Whistling Past Dixie by Thomas Schaller, want to take our party back to the 2000 and 2004 strategies of dividing the electorate into them and us camps. This strategy plays into the Rovian handbook, allowing Republicans to discuss social issues that break Democrats apart at the seams.
Schaler Democrats are obsessed with writting off the south because of the region's socially more conservative image. As a midwestern transplant in the south, I warn party activists that writting off the south will only bring Republican victories in future elections. The region embraces economic populism, a stance popular in many parts of the country.
The south, despite its socially conservative leanings in rural areas, is modernizing rapidly. The demographics are shifting because of population increases (both transplants and Latino immigrants) making the region ripe for Democratic victories with the correct message. Again, 2006 proved that point.
I am very concerned with egghead academics who feel they understand how to win elections. I caution party faithful to dismiss the idea of writting of pieces of the country and to stay the course by refining the 50 state strategy that was extremely successful in 2006!