To South or Not To South: State of the Party II

Wow. I didn't realize what hard work bloggering is. It's hard. I was all set to post a discourse on what Dems should do about the South, then that frenchman, Michael Berube, goes and does it, but he does one better, and plants the finger of blame on Democratic failures not on the Old Confederacy states, but on those of the Lousiana Purchase, which gave us OK, Mizzou, Kansas, the Dakotas, etc. The Plains States. And he's right, for more reasons than one.

But since one is all I know, I'll go on with what I was going to say anyway. Consider this an open letter to the future DNC chairperson.

"Dear Howard/Simon/Joe,

Obviously you're all aware of the fact that our candidate did not win a single southern state this Fall, and pretty much across the board, wasn't even competitive in them. Even before the campaign started there were calls to write off the South. Aside from a visit or two to LA early on, I'm not sure our standard bearer ever went below the Mason Dixon line.

Now, as have many others, I've had occasion these last few weeks to question the wisdom of everyone's favorite president, Honest Abe, in not just letting the southern states go when he had the chance. But he didn't and we still have them, every federal dollar sucking, Jerry Falwell exporting one of them.

But here's the thing. If I can be blunt, let me run down with you some statistics you might find interesting. Mississippi, 36% black. Louisiana, 33% black. Georgia and South Carolina, 29% and 30% black. Alabama, 26% black. And oh, yeah, these states are all among the poorest in the country. Now, back in 2000, about 9 out of 10 blacks voted Democratic. Now, how is it, that with such high percentages of black individuals, and with such low levels of income, we ain't competitive there?

Now, it's possible that black support for Democrats may be lower in the South, like say, 8 out of 10, but that's a big maybe. In any event, with the high proportion of blacks, and the proponderance of blacks to vote Democratic, we don't need all that many white votes down there to win.

So get to it. Please.

Love, Senator Bulworth"