Reply #31: Honestly, TahitiNut.... [View All]

[southlandshari]

I think the very commonly held idea among people of all political persuasions that Southerners will only vote for a Democratic presidential nominee who is from the South is a myth. Hear me out, I hope I can articulate this with some sort of clarity. I'll give it my best shot, anyway.

It is difficult, of course, for me to prove my theory, without some subjectivity. But as someone very immersed in the politics of the South (local, state and national) AND someone who readily admits the transgressions of our past and the problems of our present in the Deep South -- I just don't feel that the assertion of Southerners blindly voting on regional lines has any real teeth.

Part - NOT ALL - of the reason the Kerry-Edwards ticket did not do well in the South, IMHO, is undeniably the choices made by those running their campaign to virtually ignore the Deep South when it came to visits, advertisements and outreach to potential voters. I am no longer bitter about this - though I admit I was in the weeks just after the election last year - but I can attest to the fact that I got nothing but entreaties via email to focus my energy not at home but on other states. Kerry never once set foot in Alabama during the entire campaign. The message was clear. The hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of potential Democratic voters in Alabama were expendable in the name of savvy strategy. The worst of it came after the election when we who had been ignored were then demonized by those who couldn't give a hoot about our votes before the election, but blamed us for the loss after the fact.

2004 is over, and I know I and a lot of other Alabama Dems are already very focused on 2008. I would love nothing more than to see a candidate emerge who could put the long-held notion that a candidate's hometown matters more to us than his/her credentials AND his/her basic credibility, to rest once and for all. For my money, right now, the possible '08 presidential candidate with the best chances at doing that is Russ Feingold. A lot can change between now and then, but his visits here, and his genuine interest in how Alabamians think and feel has made an initial impact that could be built on later.

Whew. Not even sure that was worth two pennies, but it felt good to share it, nonetheless!

:hi: