Posted on 06/23/2013 12:45:39 PM PDT by NotYourAverageDhimmi
In the coming weeks, Hanauer and Loranne Ausley, a former member of the Florida House of Representatives, plan to launch something they're calling the Southern Project, which will conduct research and formulate messages that can help Democrats win over Southern voters. A pilot study conducted in North Carolina in February, for example, concluded that under the state's Republican governor, Pat McCrory, "there is a clear sense that hardworking taxpayers are getting the short end of the stick at the expense of big corporations and the wealthiest." The set of talking points advises progressives to make arguments "focused around fairness and accountability," whether the issue is tax reform or charter schools. The Southern Project will equip Southern Democrats with similar examples of messages that have been poll-tested to resonate with voters.
Obama lost North Carolina by just 2 percentage points in 2012, but Republicans took the governor's mansion and a supermajority in the state legislature, helped by a multimillionaire named Art Pope who poured money into the party and its candidates. After the election, McCrory put Pope in his administration's budget department and began pushing a highly ideological agenda through the state legislature, sparking a backlash that has resulted in weeks of protests at the statehouse in Raleigh.
Ausley, who ran unsuccessfully for statewide office in Florida in 2010, said Republicans across the South risk alienating voters with their hard rightward turn. Every Republican-led Southern state has rejected the federally funded expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare, she noted; in Florida, Governor Rick Scott tried to accept the funds, but his own Republican-dominated legislature blocked the move. Southern Republicans have recently decried women's entry into the workforce and advocated teaching schoolchildren about proper gender roles.
"Republican legislators are going further than the Southern public wants. There's going to be a backlash."
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
It seems like Republican leadership doesn’t care if the South votes for them.
Si Señor...
Yeah. Try the “new” blame the rich talking point. That will work in NC.
Also run on a pro gun control platform. Southerners hate guns.
What a bunch of drivel. LOL.
The GOPe considers us an embarrassment.
/ a Texan
Easily! All they have to do is take in a few million more illegals. America is already dead.
Sí, pueden.
the new Dimocrat base just sits around watching TV. They love them some free moneyz!
How about free catfish and hush puppies?
Only with fraud which today includes the registering of any warm body as a legal voter, and creative redistricting. This immigration bill is about registering enough new voters to tip the 2014 election. It is virtually impossible and even illegal to verify citizenship when someone presents themselves to register. Nor is it possible to verify who actually casts the vote from this new “registered citizen”. Republicans are fools if they allow this abomination to pass the House.
Uh, that sounds like a path to sure defeat. Take charter schools for example. How could they possibly lose an argument based upon either "fairness" or accountability?? There surely can be in the universe no institution LESS accountable than a goobermint school. On the issues of fairness, it's true that they do sometimes give preference to low income kids, but other than that, I see no way to accuse them of unfairness, either.
If dems load the south up with a bunch of illegals - then cheat in black precincts - then yeah, they can win any place...
The Obama administration is working feverishly to overcome opposition to the entrenched culture of self-sufficiency throughout parts of the rural south through food stamps and other welfare programs. They simultaneously perform voter outreach, I’m sure.
if they can’t win it, they can surely buy it.
Yup,
add 40 million new foreigners , legalize them, and voila !
One Party State.
The backlash is just starting against Obama and his Secret Police Forces.
Republicans need to respond with their own project, most specifically to grab blacks. Obama has done nothing for them, they know it, and are being thrown under the bus in favor of Latinos. A significant fraction of them are open to a conservative message.
Its not really about north and south. Its about conservatives vs “moderates”. The north vs south game is just a wedge both democrats and republicans try to use.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.