The Nation: ‘Solid South’ fantasy

I received an email earlier today from Nick Jahr, a blog reader and staffer at The Nation. He points me to their most recent cover story:

In the article, Bob Moser, one of our contributing writers, makes a really compelling argument that the ’solid South’ is a Republican myth that the Dems need to see through. Among other highlights, Moser has a vicious dissection of Democratic presidential politics in the South. And in one of the piece’s sharper observations, he writes:

“The parity between the parties, unprecedented in the South’s history, was neatly symbolized by the total tally of state legislative seats in the old Confederate states after the 2004 elections: 891 Democrats, 891 Republicans.”

Jahr also states: “We’re hoping that this piece will be just part of a broader conversation” including blogs and their readers.

Here in North Carolina, our state’s political history since Reconstruction has pretty much continued to be dominated by one party: the Democrats. While it is true that Republicans have become more competitive, the Democrats have remained the controlling party of the North Carolina State Legislature for… well… over a hundred years (give or take a few sessions here and there).

This was pretty much the basis of our study in my Southern and North Carolina Politics course during the fall 2006 semester: Surveying the change of Southern politics before and after the Civil War and continuing into the 20th and 21st centuries. The South is a unique place, for sure, and we definitely have some unique politics.

I haven’t had the chance to read the piece yet (read it at The Nation, ya’ll), but I’ll certainly get to it when I can. Ya’ll have any thoughts? Is the “Solid South” a Republican myth? Can the Democrats succeed on a national level in the South? We already see the Dems are doing good jobs on the state level. Will the Democrats continue to be as powerful on the state level here in North Carolina or other Southern states as they have been in the past?

P.S. - Interesting fact: Bob Moser is a native of Winston-Salem, NC, and columnist for the mostly gay male-oriented OUT Magazine. Back in June 2006, Moser wrote a piece on PFLAG Winston-Salem and LGBT youth.

Technorati Tags: North Carolina, The Nation, Bob Moser, Solid South, Democrats, Republicans

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