It is not a "Southern Strategy", it is a "Northern Strategy"

[Kolesar]

It took a decades-long cultural change in the North until racial jokes and racial slurs were eliminated from polite conversation. Progress has been made on race relations in many other aspects also. What Howard Dean is doing with these speeches is reminding northerners that racism is still a big factor in American politics and trying to make republicans in the north feel ashamed of the party that fans the flames of racial hatred to win elections.

Governor Howard Dean in Columbia, South Carolina:

"In 1968, Richard Nixon won the White House. He did it in a shameful way -- by dividing Americans against one another, stirring up racial prejudices and bringing out the worst in people.

They called it the "Southern Strategy," and the Republicans have been using it ever since. Nixon pioneered it, and Ronald Reagan perfected it, using phrases like "racial quotas" and "welfare queens" to convince white Americans that minorities were to blame for all of America's problems.

The Republican Party would never win elections if they came out and said their core agenda was about selling America piece by piece to their campaign contributors and making sure that wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of a few.

To distract people from their real agenda, they run elections based on race, "guns, God, and gays," dividing us, instead of uniting us."

Dean's target is swing voters--Republican women. He is appealing to their genuine sense of fairness and decency to get them to quit voting for these indecent, manipulative, racist republicans.

The Democrats could try to work those middle of the road voters or getting non-voters to the polls, but we would be foolish to ignore the double-gain of taking a voter from the "R" column and putting them in the "D" column.

There are other great issues to go after the female swing voters with:

2. The environment, especially destroying wilderness and species
3. The arbitrary and cocksure way that Bush took us to war

I would especially like to hear women's comments on these voters and this strategy as I have described it.

[MarianJack]

1. Good Post, Thanks!

It amazes me that for decades, rethuglicans (back in the Eisenhower and before days when they were Republicans) won quite a few elections without ever taking a single southern state (the "Solid South") but now the pundits are saying that it's impossible for a Democrat to win without recapturing the South.

I'm glad that Dean is saying this. We should have followed Bill Clinton's lead and hammered this point when trent lotto'crap made his strom thurmond remarks.

I don't want to get into yet another rehash of selection 2000, but I wonder if Al Gore would have been better served to spend the day before election day and election morning in WV, MO and NH, winding up back in TN, all states that voted for Clinton twice, rather than staying in FL. But water under the bridge and now is the time to focus on '04!

[helleborient]

2. Nice analysis...

Nominally Republican women voters in the suburbs of Chicago have been a huge swing group in Illinois for some time now...they were a huge factor in Carol Moseley Braun's election as Senator...and I would expect a large number of them went for Blagojevich in the wake of the Republican scandals.

[phillybri]

3. Excellent post....

Zell Miller says the Democratic Party is no longer a national party, but if I'm not mistaken, W only won ONE Northern state (New Hampshire) in 2000.

Which party isn't national? The last time I checked, there are FAR more people in the Northeast than in the South...

[Kolesar]

4. W took Ohio and Indiana. I recall MN was close

The South is by far the largest population region in the country and is larger than the Northeast or the Midwest. For us to win in 2004, we are going to have to plan on taking Ohio and New Hampshire.

Ohio was dominant in the abolitionist movement. Ending slavery was considered a demonstration of our highest virtues. I hope Ohioans can reawaken that cultural memory and be as critical of racism as were were of slavery.

[Ace R. Rubrum]

5. Spike, history is not in your corner here

Let's not attempt to revise history. Ohio was truly a leader in the abolition movement of the 1850's and 60's. However, it was the progressive northern Whigs, not the Democratic Party, who made the
abolition movement part of their political platform. And those northern Whigs broke with their southern counterparts to create, dare I say it, the Republican Party. History teaches us that many Southern Whigs and the entire Democratic Party staunchly opposed abolition. Unfortunately, ending slavery was never the Democratic Party's highest virtue. But that's ancient history - my point is that its not wise to bring it up because it can reflect badly on the party.

I agree with you that the Dems must win Ohio to win the 2004 election. Indeed we must win all of the Rust Belt and more. This is why Gep has the best chance of success - he can deliver the working class "Reagan Democrats" from the old industrial north and midwest. Without these voters, the Dem candidate is doomed. Let's face it, Dean will not bring these people out in sufficient numbers to beat Bush. Were it not for the shambles in which LBJ left the party, the murder of RFK, and the legacy of the Chicago convention, Humphrey and his rust belt constituency would have easily beaten Nixon in 1968. I'm not saying the rust belt strategy is a guarantee; after all Mondale couldn't pull it off, but at least its a coherent plan - something to work with.

[Kolesar]

6. Please reread the first paragraph of my first post

Then reconsider your first paragraph. My thesis is not about reconstructing a period in the Democratic Party from 145 years ago. It is about shaming the 21st century Republicans who should be proud of dispatching slavery. That was a big part of the culture in Ohio in the 20th century. That theme was prominent in grade school and secondary history classes here in Ohio.

I wish Gephardt was "selling" better in Ohio. Polls still show Joe Lieberman, a man who would take our party nowhere.

How do you know that Dean will not bring Reagan Democrats in the working class back to vote for a Democratic presidential candidate? What is the angle, here--a gut feeling?
Btw, I am not endorsing a candidate yet, despite Al Gore's recommendation :)

[Proud Rat]

7. I wonder too...

I sometimes wonder why people are so quick to talk about history when our party was much more conservative on many social and racial policies than the republicans in the not so distant past.

Th solid south MarianJack refers to in his reply was neccessarily by any virtue of the democratic party, but still a product of Civil War politics and still defiant southern states.

[loyalsister]

8. Shame

This could be a way to go. Someone was talking recently about how in the 80s it sort of became "cool" to be a Republican. Dean is telling people they should actually be ashamed to be Republican. It's brilliant!
As for women, considering the empathy factor, they should be pretty receptive to this message.
The very fact that he is a Dr. should appeal to some women. His focus on communities should too, because women are most involved in community organizations.

[Kolesar]

9. finally, a woman's opinion!

thanks for responding.

[loyalsister]

10. :) No problem

I have noticed that Dean is getting a lot of support from women in my area. I think there are several reasons. He is the most pro-choice candidate we've got. Another thing that may appeal to women is that his campaign isn't really hierarchical. Women prefer cooperation rather than delegation of duties. These are things that are ot necessarily partisan. There are many pro-choice Republican women who just may cross lines. If they feel like there is flexibility within the campaign, they may be even more likely to.