[GungaLaGunga]

That's his strategy? Richard Nixon was a divider? Another nail goes in the coffin....

[c-b 1]

Secondly, a large number of influential Democrats, many of them former high-level advisers to President Bill Clinton and state leaders, are growing increasingly concerned that Dean's antiwar, anti-tax-cut campaign could doom the party's chances of winning back the White House and Congress. If Dean can't quickly exhibit an ability and willingness to broaden his appeal, especially in the South, these Democrats may join together in a campaign to stop him, several said.

Are Hillary's fingerprints on this?

[Conspiracy Guy]

Dean is the cream of the Democrap hopefuls. I hope he gets the nod.

[ZULU]

It will be easier for a camle to pass through the eye of a needle than for Dean to win a southern state.
(Has he got a steel rod shoved up his rectum into his head or something?? The guy never seems to be able to turn his head without moving his torso. He looks like he has no neck.)

By the way, that Wallace guy who replaced Tony Snow on FOX NEWs is a REAL loser. He has all the personality of a dead fish. When interviewing Andrew Card this weekend, he couldn't even let the guy finish answering a question without interrupting him.

They should dump this Wallace geek. Maybe replace him with Lorrie Dhu.

[alaskanfan]

"I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks" & then a few days later "I think the Confederate flag is a racist symbol." -- Howard Dean, apparently courting what he sees as the racist vote..... posted earlier today by Happy2BMe

Yes Mr. Dean your southern stratergy is quite clear.

[Heatseeker]

My sense of it is that Dean's "southern strategy" is for the primaries only: he has no hope for any southern state in the general.

There are a couple of prospective nominees who could pull Arkansas, and I think Clark or Edwards has an outside shot (very outside) at Georgia or North Carolina. Unfortunately for the Dems I doubt either of these can get the nomination.

The reality for them is that the South is lost and in the general I doubt you'd see the Dem candidate spend much time there. PA, AZ, and the midwest are the battlegrounds.

Just my humble opinions. I'm always interested in hearing others' takes on this.

[BlueNgold]

Umm how are we dividing the people when he is the one out hollering about these issues?
What he and other NE elites will never understand is that in the south the issues of religion, family, patriotism, and protection are subtexts, a daily part of life, and they do not need to be bandied about ... unless and until they are threatened. Many southerners will read his comments as a declaration that he in fact does intend to threaten those things they hold dear. He may even have trouble carrying Vermont if he keeps this up ... lol.

[You Dirty Rats]

What in the Wide World of Sports is Dean talking about? In 1968 it was a 'Rat, GEORGE WALLACE, who divided the 'RAT party over race and took votes away from HHH. Wallace carried six southern states!! He was the last 3rd party candidate to carry a state in a Presidential Election.

Jesse Jackson ought to remember what was going on in the South in 1968. Wasn't he at the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Howard Dean is more confused than John Dean.

[Billthedrill]

Well, what he said in Texas was that the election down there was all about those things, not that the Republicans had made it so. It's still a stupid ploy. What he's saying, in fact, is that those things aren't important enough to consider and that his priorities are. That isn't, actually, up to him, it's up to the voters, the ones who are being irritated by his pontificating in the matter. Somebody really needs to buy this guy a clue.

[txzman]

The only people using race in this political season are the Dems,Dean, Jackson and black leaders who live off fostering hate.

[Sloth]

Dean's new strategy to court Southern voters: "You incestuous, barefoot rednecks need to crawl out from under your outhouses and vote for a candidate who truly understands your concerns, if not your uneducated hick accents."

[EDINVA]

the country wasn't divided along racial lines before Nixon? It wasn't a racial animus that guaranteed the Democrats a "solid south" ??? whatever am I missing here?

[.cnI redruM]

I think he's giving all us Southerners the finger and trying to tell us he thinks we're #1.

[longtermmemmory]

It is a strategy, he is trying bunch those groups into one anti-american (aka anti-democrat aka anti-liberal) group. It is a sneaky effort to create marginalization thought crimes.

Dean is spooky.

[only1percent]

Dean's "Southern Strategy" is primary-only, designed to beat Clark and Edwards and hold down Sharpton's and Braun's share of the black vote.

He has absolutely no strategy, nor any intention to draw up one, for the South in the general election. The Dean strategy is Gore states plus Missouri or Ohio.

There won't be a strong Green candidacy, so he won't have to worry about Wisconsin, New Mexico or Oregon -- he might feel the need to spend a little bit to defend Minnesota, where there's evidence of a Republican trend and the margin of victory in 2000 was small. PA and MI are non-issues -- if Bush's popularity is such that Dean has to fight for those states, Dean has no chance at MO or OH and will probably also lose WI or MN, meaning that he can't win no matter what. Same analysis on pick-ups in WV, LA, AR, and FL -- if, with gay marriage and the war on terror, those states are competitive for Dean, Dean is cruising for a relatively easy victory anyway.

The greatest resource that Dean has is his running-mate pick; when we see him choose Gephardt, Holden, Dayton, or Celeste the hand he's playing will be clear.

[dano1]

I think Dean made a big mistake when he backtracked on his infamous confederate flag in the pickup truck comment. He should have said that the Democrats deplore racism in any form, etc., (no racists welcome here, etc.) but stuck to his argument for a big tent party. However Clinton and the DLC have played organized labor for fools, and the far left is getting to be the mouthpiece of the party, so in any event it will be hard to convince moderate Democrats that Dean will represent them. Dean is basically just riding out the fury from the close and disputed 2000 election. Maybe President Bush should organize a new, right-of-center coalition party (replacing Cheney with a conservate dem for example) to merge the Republicans and the disaffected democrats who never wanted to enlist in the culture wars on the side of Larry Flint and Monica Lewinsky in any event. A new party right-center coalition right now (merging judiciously compassionate social programs with strict and hardline requirements for personal responsibility) would be the death knoll for the Democratic Party.