How do you respond to that?

[TeamsterDem]

7. Well, I think it's clueless to say that one only reaches an audience through media

and that southerners aren't smart enough to understand things. I think they are. What I believe is that the Civil Rights Act caused Democrats to lose their southern seats owing directly to racism, but I also realize that was 50+ years ago and that - even in the south - some things have changed. I'm not saying it's a bastion of liberalism, only that I don't think that racism is as controlling down there as it once was. And when the Dixiecrats lost their seats, it's my view that Democrats just fled the area, viewing it as unwinnable, thus making it unwinnable.

I think an organized ground game seeking to change the minds or modify the views a bit would work. True, you're not going to change the KKK types, but thankfully the KKK isn't the majority. I know southerners from having been on organizing drives there. Tons of good people in the south, tons of smart people in the south. I think we ceded the south after the CRA, and that states like North Carolina show that we can be competitive if we compete. It's not easy and we won't turn Mississippi into a permanently blue state, but if we could win elections here and there and yank a few more representatives out of places like that it might be the difference in who holds committees, things like that.