meet the Dixiecrat.

[ulysses]

My mother-in-law is in her late 60s. She grew up in Alabama, lived south of Atlanta most of her married life, and moved west to Carrollton a couple of years ago after her husband died.

She's always been a registered Democrat. Her mother, the matriarch of the family, idolized FDR and JFK, and Judy picked up on that. That said, since I've known her, I've never known her to vote for a Dem beyond the local level, even for Carter - Ms Uly's dad worked with Carter during his governorship and hated him.

During early voting this week, Judy vote in the primary for Hillary Clinton, because, she says, she'd rather have her than Obama. But she'll be voting Republican in the general (she's hoping for McCain).

Ask her why, and she'll tell you that while she'll grudgingly admit that Bush hasn't been stellar on the economy, she still blames Bill Clinton and the Democrats as a whole for 9/11.

Interestingly, I asked her if any of the Dems who ran this time would have tempted her to vote Dem in the general - she admitted that she'd have probably voted for Edwards. If it's a racial thing, she's wise enough to not say so flat out to me.

Why are we courting these people again? And if we're going to, why aren't we courting them with someone for whom they'll vote?

[cali]

1. It sounds like you MiL is typical of a lot of southern whites

who vote repuke. And though we should target certain southern and nominally southern states, we are NOT going to capture Georgia or AL in a presidential election, no matter who we run. And the think about JE is he didn't get indie or repuke votes in SC, and there's zero reason to think he could have carried ANY southern state had he been the nominee.

[ulysses]

2. pretty much.

I wonder, though, how many of the indie/repuke voters who pulled the lever or Clinton or Obama in SC will, like her, vote GOP in the fall...

[Tennessee Gal]

3. There is no logic to their voting patterns.

And there is no way to convince them of that fact.

I hear it all the time.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Please forgive me in advance, but your mother-in-law is an uneducated idiot. nt

[ulysses]

5. she's actually not.

She's quite well educated. Wrong, but well-educated.