What message should Democrats be bringing to the South and to rural areas? Two of them. First "You voters matter" and second "This is our vision of the Future that we will build together with you." The Bull Moose describes the first, and Ruy Teixeira discusses that latter.
Howard Dean is right when he says that Democrats have to be SEEN to be fighting back against the Republicans, but we need to do that in a manner that does not leave Rural voters and Southerners feel like we are putting down their life-style and values. Dean, I think, understands that. That's what his comment last year about reaching out to the Southern guys with gun racks in their pickups was all about. Whether he can get his knowledge clearly expressed and pushed through a media that has its own idea what the stories should be is another issue.
I'd like to see a caucus of Southern (or Red State) Democratic Congressmen together working on a Democratic message. The Democrats can't write off a quarter of the electoral votes and win as a national party. Besides - those Southern and rural voters are expressing a fear of the future. The economy is uncertain and their good-paying jobs are drying up, the white Democrats are still viewed by many Democrats as racists, and the southern accent is still viewed as the national example of how stupid people talk.
If the Democrats can't deal with these problems, they shouldn't consider themselves the party of the worker and the people. Dealing with those problems will do more than regain electoral votes in the South and rural areas. It will also regain the soul of the Democratic Party.
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