The way the south votes

[Ms_Mary]

The south has gotten a horrible rap for this election, but we were far from the worst Bush area. If you look at us here, we aren't red, we're purple.If we work on it, we could be blue next time.

[Maestro]

1. Hey, you see that

little bit of purplish blue in North Texas. That is me and a handful of friends and family. :)

[ISUGRADIA]

2. Electoral votes are cast on a statewide basis

individual counties do not count. The South was Bush's best region of the country and he got some of his highest % in Southern states. There are a few southern states worth pursuing, but for the most part we should write it off and look west.

[Ms_Mary]

3. Did you LOOK at the midwest?

Bright freakin red. I realize there are fewer electoral votes there, but there are a lot of southern states that weren't Bush by that much.

This site breaks it down several ways: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/

Write it off? What exactly is that supposed to accomplish? Give you a smaller Democratic base with no chance of taking southern states? Bush did not win the entire south by a landslide and that means that a heck of a lot of us are really unhappy and wanted a change. A lot of us are getting even more vocal and perfectly wiling to bust our asses for the cause. Use that to your advangtage. I don't get the elitist, defeatist attitude. We'll never win that way.

[ISUGRADIA]

7. Which states went for Bush in the south by less than 10 points?

Florida, Arkansas and Virginia

[ISUGRADIA]

8. I'm not saying we should spend resources in SD, ND, NE, KS

either, nor am I saying we should write off ALL southern states. But some states are not going to be within reach anytime soon.

[Ms_Mary]

10. Okay, it's hard to tell from a general statement. I can live w/that.

[Ms_Mary]

5. It's really short-sighted to discount the south's democratic vote

because the counties are where the state's vote comes from and that's what makes the electoral vote. You strenghten the blue, you can turn the tide. You write it off and where do you plan on finding the electoral votes needed to win? Not the midwest.

[MarianJack]

9. With a Growing Hispanic Population...

...and the probability that **'s incompetence will come to bite the r's in the rear end, compliant media or no compliant media, I agree with you about looking west.

I think that our best bets are New Mexico (voted Clinton twice and for Gore), Nevada (Clinton twice), Arizona and Colorado (each voted for Clinton once). That's a combined 29 electoral votes. Getting Ohio, Iowa, Misouri and West Virginia back in addition would make for a very comfortable Democratic EV victory.

[quaoar]

4. Look at the Mississippi River from about St. Louis south

And the Texas counties along the Mexican border and the blue swath across central Alabama and across central South Carolina and eastern North Carolina.

Then look at eastern Oregon and eastern Washington, most of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, southern Illinois, etc.

Which of those areas should be cultivated and which should be written off?

[ISUGRADIA]

6. We've carried oregon and washington regularly

look at the whole state, not selected counties. Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina are not the best states to waste resources in.

[merbex]

11. I like your positive thinking

I agree, the South doesn't look so bad in this light.I wish this map had the outline of the states superimposed on it so we could actually see what each state looked like rather than by region.

Oklahoma,Kansas and Nebraska LOOK DISMAL as does Utah if my 5th grade geography lessons hold up after- ahem -35 years