Sideshow, you are engaging in identity politics again. The long locked hippies: Skynyrd did not represent Southerners, but their song reflected the pride that all Southerners have in what they are, what they believe and where they come from, warts and all.
If you tell us a poor Southern Governor named: "Huckabee" cannot win because of what he is, what he believes and where he comes from, we'll rally around him. We love any fight, especially a "Lost Cause". Just watch what happens on Super Tuesday. I'm not saying the Huckabee will come out on top, but the South will be heard from. Myth is a Yankee. He's not a Christian and he's not a gentleman. Thompson is a gentleman but that's not enough.
Bob didn't say he couldn't win because of what he "is" or where he comes from. In fact, it was another poster who proclaimed that the anti-Huckabee are really just Northeastern Rockefeller Republicans. While Fredheads may be slow to realize that they lost because Fred mishandled the situation with the Christian voters who vote en block, the Huckabites are more slow to realize that he cannot win without convincing Republicans that all of his liberal acts as governor aren't indicative of who he'll be as President. Not an easy sell. Socons need ficons and vice versa. Just because a guy says "RLA" doesn't make him a conservative at large. Nor does it make him a viable candidate (and I don't mean viable in the sense of "electability" which Huck clearly has about a -23 on a scale of 1 to 10 in electability).
I previousy addressed why most conservatives are opposed to Huckabee. And I disposed of the inane Yankee bias argument.
As a child of immigrants and as a first-generation American, I find that entire fixation of North vs. South to be rather silly. The Civil War (or am I a bigot if I don't call it the War of Northern Aggression?) ended 143 years ago, please let it go.
Is there anyone in Dixie that doesn't know "Sweet Home Alabama" (not to mention any redneck from sea to sea) by heart? It may well be that you can find a few, but the song is iconic, and as you said, speaks to the vast majority of Southern folks. One would do better to bad mouth NASCAR than to hack on "Sweet Home".
I found the inherent ignorance to be eye-opening, and may well be the same sort of thing as one finds when talking of the Rebel flag (another Southern and country icon oft held in ill repute), both of which speak to the blood of a native son.
I think it is that "country" thing that others cannot understand, that is the heart of hearts regarding Conservatism. It is why their sophistry and connivance always hit a brick wall south of the Mason Dixon line and west of the Mississippi River. A good thing, too.