Mark Hufford's blog

I've heard back from WFDD radio regarding why the Southern Strategy debate, scheduled to air last night, was not aired. Apparently they had technical difficulty with the audio.

It is now scheduled to be broadcast (also available live online) next Sunday, April 1, at 7.

In my opinion, airing it on April Fools Day is consistent with the side of the argument that says Democrats should write off the South.

If you were the Democratic Party, eager to win back the White House, where would you aim your expenditures of time and money? Does it make sense to write off an entire region of the country – OUR region?

That’s the topic of a debate that will air Sunday at 7 p.m. on Winston-Salem’s NPR affiliate, WFDD 88.5 FM. Tune in or jump online and get the live streaming audio of the 90-minute debate at WFDD.org.

Crux of the three main arguments:

Tom Schaller, right, author of the book Whistling Past Dixie, argues that in the past several cycles, expenditures in the South have not paid off – notably Kerry in VA and TN and Gore in WV and TN. Focusing entirely on other regions, especially the West, is a winning strategy.

Meet Roger Sharpe in this short video.

If your neighbor’s house were destroyed, what would you do? Seriously. Of course you would provide food or clothing or money or whatever was needed.

When Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf, most of us watched on TV, shocked and embarrassed that our government was doing nothing. Roger Sharpe got in his car and drove to Mississippi and rolled up his sleeves. He considered Mississippians his neighbors because they’re part of the American community.

In this second short video, see how the experience affected him.

Now Roger is running for Congress and it’s our turn for action. In Washington, he’ll represent the best of each of us -- the part that would get in the car and drive to Mississippi.

Folks,

I'm Mark Hufford, the NC Democratic Party's Western Political Director (and part of the DNC's 50-state strategy).

I'm not a big blogger, but am a frequent reader of BlueNC. Rather than simply replying to yesterday's string about our "BurmaShave"-style branding campaign I thought you'd appreciate hearing a little about it from the horse's mouth (which I guess makes me the horse). Importantly, we also need your help!

As mentioned, the branding effort came out of a group called the Western Task Force -- activists from around the West who examined the entire infrastructure and operations of the Party in our 33 Western counties. One subcommittee, led by Paul Donahue of Henderson County, looked at how Democrats are perceived here and what we could do about it, in an affordable way.