"Tom Schaller utterly vindicated."
I wouldn't go that far. Schaller has some good ideas, and some whacked ideas too-- these center mostly around how he designs that the path to a Democratic majoirty is to ostracize through an anti-southerness in order to regionally isolate the Republicans. We can beat them with a 50 state strategy instead.
Geographic shift. This is the first time in 54 years that the party without a southern majority now has the House majority. Power flows to coasts.Tom Schaller utterly vindicated
Is this the beginning of the death of the Republican's infamous racist Southern Strategy? Let us hope so.
but keep in mind, the Southern Strategy still worked in TN this year to some extent.
Also, the point of the Southern Strategy was to break the back of the traditional lock on power held by the dems since the civil war in the south, the goal being to shatter the ruling coalition of northern urban ethic whites with southern segregationists - which it did. However, time marches forward, the country has been changing, and the southern strategy may still sway elections in the south but IMO it has become a cancer on the whole GOP, hurting brand "republican" in the eyes of what would otherwise be the traditional GOP's northern and western constituencies (middle class sub and exurbans).
Just as dems couldn't seal the deal by being just a coastal party, as demographics continue to shift so too will the GOP become a regional party, mostly because they will be so closely tied with rascism and racists.
...as demographics continue to shift so too will the GOP become a regional party, mostly because they will be so closely tied with rascism and racists.
Thank you. That comment echoed a sentiment I feard from Bob Edwards' analyst-guest this morning. Doyle McManus said the Dem victory vindicated Rahm Emanel at Howard Dean's expense, and suggested that Dean should step down. It really sucks to have to scream at the radio before you're out of bed. If this is the tack the media is going to take, there's no time for a victory lap.
You can only beat them with a 50 state strategy if you shift the center of power away from the South. This may sound odd, but I believe the only way to shift things there is to decrease Southern power in national politics. So long as it remains or remained the centralizing strategy there was no way a 50 state strategy could work because it would have left the Democrats (and now the republicans) beholden to one region.
