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that Southern Accent is sure a deal killer isn't it...

First, Texas is unique. Texans will be the first to tell you that. It's really not Southern (like, say, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Georgia). Florida is similarly not Southern, despite its physical geography.

Second, although the current incumbent has a Southern accent, everyone knows that his father, mother, and grandparents certainly do not. Everyone also knows the president is, at heart, as much a Yalee and a Harvard MBA as a drawling Texan.

Third, the main stream media do not hate Southern Democrats like Carter and Clinton as they hate Southern Republicans. They hated Johnson, but were stuck with him as the heir to Camelot and as Goldwater's alternative.

Fourth, Carter and Clinton were both incredibly lucky. Carter started his campaign the day after the 1972 election. Watergate and Ed Bradley being assigned to Carter's campaign were huge breaks for Carter. His Iowa campaign was a stroke of genius (which, unfortunately for us, seems to have departed Carter once actually in Washington). Clinton was blessed by the "Reform" party and its loony leader whose name I can't recall.
BR> If the GOP nominates a Southerner, look for all sorts of documentaries and specials about Jessie Helms, Strom Thurmond (not to be mentioned will be his being a Democrat when his outrageous statements were made), and David Dukes.

As a Southern-born Southerner, I know exactly what Yankees think of us. And it's not much.