MAY 18, 2011 - Being a Southerner conveys certain advantages upon a Republican presidential candidate. Since 1980, a Southerner has finished first or second in every Iowa Republican presidential caucus. [snip] The White House has been occupied by a Southerner — counting the Massachusetts-born and decidedly patrician George H.W. Bush, who resided in Texas at the time he ran for office — in 30 of the past 46 years. I’m not sure this is entirely a coincidence.... [snip] If a candidate dominates the South — and it’s much easier for a Southern candidate to do that — he’ll have made...