what's up with Arkansas?

[RobertPlant]

they have two democratic senators, a democratic governor, and a majority in the state house and senate. Does anyone know why they were the only state to increase their support for the GOP presidential candidate from 2004? While they voted for Carter, Clinton, and LBJ; The last time Arkansas supported a non-southern democrat was in 1960 for JFK.

[The Northerner]

1. Because they're socially conservative democrats?

I think they also split their votes on federal and local levels.

[RobertPlant]

2. but Pennsylvania and Ohio are socially conservative states too

and the democratic presidential candidates tend to win there regularly to semi-regularly.

[The Northerner]

10. And PA & OH have more urbanization, minorities, & a likely higher union membership percentage

I don't think the same could be said for Arkansas.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[quickesst]

6. "Because they are racists"

I have tried and tried to convince the "enlightened", but at some point the only answer one can give is, "I'm born and mostly raised in Arkansas, and you're broad blanket accusation is a blatant fucking lie. The "holier than thou" once again evoke their elitism simply because someone may have a bigger pile of shit in their yard than they have in their own. I'm tired of this shit, and only have one thing to say. The "racist southern confederates" have nothing on the elitist non-southerners who continue to aggrevate and continue the Civil War betweent the states. We are trying, and making some progress, no thanks to the shallow likes of you. Simply put, we, the democrat/progressive/liberals, of which there are millions who live in the south, have to suffer the consequences as "collateral damage" the "elite" are more than willing to offer up as sacrifice in order to somehow "prove" they are more worthy to breathe than the we are. Fucking disgusting the way you people are willing to throw us away. Thanks, but no thanks.
quickesst

[sandnsea]

8. My family lives in Arkansas

The ones who hate Obama are racists. They have gone barking mad over his election. They hate him more than they hated John Kerry. It's racism. Deal with it.

[quickesst]

14. The OP "What's up with Arkansas"

So fucking what? Your family lives in Arkansas is supposed to somehow justify your broad blanket accusation in your first post? Bullshit. "Because they are racists." And your attempt to rectify your statement, you offer up "the ones who hate Obama are racists"? No deal. Your original statement was a broad blanket which includes me and at least four-hundred thousand plus Arkansans who voted for Obama, and you can't get out of it. You act as though your state is pure of heart, and has no pile of shit of your own to deal with or recognize. What? Because democrats in your state comprise the majority, you feel anyone who resides there doesn't really count as a "racist"? You and your state, and those who somehow identify with your "logic" get a pass because you are the majority? I love my state of Arkansas, and it is not as hard as you might assume to associate oneself with like-minded people who share my progressive/liberal ideology, and are working to change attitudes here and across the south. You are an elitist. One of those people that astute satirists make fun of. Deal with it. I may be the only southerner here to try, but I'm more than willing to do my part in stopping this resurgence of the enthusiasm from non-southerners to continue a war that is long past. Thanks.
quickesst

[CTLawGuy]

15. well technically no one in your state voted for Obama.

those 400k people voted for a slate of 6 Democratic electors who lost (badly) to the 6 republican electors. In the vote that matters (see election 2000), McCain got 6 votes and Obama got 0. So technically, everyone in AR, including you, voted for McCain.

Now, if you don't like that I would suggest demanding that allocations of electoral votes reflect the proportion of the vote for each candidate. A state is allowed to allocate its electoral votes however it wants, including having the legislature pick them. (That's right, the legislature could constitutionally vote for president for you.) Maybe the Democratic legislature will make that happen.

[WhiteTara]

4. closet racists. n/t

[tularetom]

5. Forget it Jake, it's Jesustown

[Radical Activist]

7. Democratic Party turned its back on rural voters years ago.

Lack of a tailored message and lack of organizing from the national level for rural areas. It was a lost cause by the time Obama came along.

Democrats rejected economic populism and chased after suburban soccer moms instead. We see the results in places like Arkansas.

[sandnsea]

9. The state is mostly Democrat

I guess you missed that part of the post. Two Dem Senators, 3 of 4 Dem Congress, Dem governor and lt governor, Dem state house by a huge margin.

More Arkansans voted for John Kerry than for Obama.

That has nothing to do with the lack of message for rural voters.

[Radical Activist]

11. You don't get it.

Local Democrats have a message tailored to Arkansas voters. National Democrats don't because they abandoned rural voters and the kind of economic populism that works best in much of the South and Midwest. That's why local Democrats get elected but national Democrats lose.

By the time Obama ran, the state was considered a lost cause. Kerry made a very small effort there and Obama made less of one.

[sandnsea]

12. Yeah, a Republican message

and a racist message. You have seen where Blanche Lincoln has put out two different messages on the health care bill, one for black voters and one for white. They're a bunch of racists and the only message they can hear is that it's everybody elses fault that they don't have a job.

[Radical Activist]

13. It's easier

to point a finger and call people racist than it is to look inward at the Democratic Party's weaknesses or remembering that no state can be summed up in a simplistic stereotype. Arkansas has a history of racial politics and it also has a proud of history of progressive politics, just like any state.

If you're going to blame any prejudice, blame it on the gay marriage referendum on the ballot in '08. It was put there to turn out conservative voters. Or realize that McCain campaigned there and had an organization while Obama didn't. Or consider that some Clinton Democrats may still have had bad feelings about the primary.

Prejudice is prejudice, even when you're directing it at the entire white population of a state.

[RobertPlant]

16. you can't just accuse people of being racists

that's probably the reason why Dukakis was picked over JJ in '88. All Jackson did was try to stir up tension between the races. As someone said earlier, the democrats abandoned rural voters. I think that we should try to win back many of the rural voters who were grandchildren of the people that voted for FDR overwhelmingly.