HALT:HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com
CBS — October 19, 2010 —
New York Times’ Jeff Zeleny talks to Jan Crawford about the state of Democrats in the South… Are they a dying species?
In the article “Southern Democrat much closer to extinction after GOP wave,” (Washington Times, Nov 4, 2010), Ben Evans notes:
After this week’s elections, the Democratic Party barely holds a presence in the region outside of majority-black urban areas such as Atlanta and Memphis. The carnage for the party was particularly brutal in the Deep South, where just one white Democrat survived across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina…
“Right now in most of Dixie it is culturally unacceptable to be a Democrat. It’s a damn shame, but that’s the way it is,” said Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, a campaign strategist for conservative Democrats such as Jim Webb of Virginia, one of the few remaining Southern Democratic senators.
The losses were particularly disappointing for the party after the baby steps it made in the South in 2006 and 2008, when it picked up a host of Republican-leaning House districts and won Senate seats in North Carolina and Virginia. Many thought the party had learned its lessons and had begun to reverse recent history by nominating conservative candidates who hit the right notes on divisive social issues such as abortion and smaller government.
None of it mattered Tuesday.
Democrats didn’t just see most of their recent gains obliterated, they lost at least 19 Southern House members and a senator, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. Even some of the most conservative Democrats such as four-term Rep. Jim Marshall of Georgia and 10-term Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi couldn’t withstand the wave. It also snared such veterans as John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina, the 14-term chairman of the House Budget Committee, and 14-term Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia…
Most of the losing Democrats this year were moderates representing Republican-leaning districts. And the challenges could get even tougher for Southern Democrats as legislatures begin redrawing congressional districts from the 2010 census.
Mark Pryor said on Arkansas Week in Review which was broadcast on AETN on Dec 24th, “We owe the American people good government and to try and be productive. I think one reason why you saw the elections turn out the way they turned this November was because I think people all across America feel like the folks inside the beltway are not listening. I try to listen and to be home as much as I possibly can.”
Senator Pryor claims to be listening to the people back home. Evidently the reason most of these Democrats in the south are losing is very simple. They do not represent the conservative values of the people in the south. Is Senator Pryor listening to the people of Arkansas who have voted against every Democrat in 2010 that wished to represent them in Washington. Did the people of Arkansas want Obamacare? The verdict is clear from the results in 2010 that they did not. Take a look at my earlier post where I show he ignored what the people thought and voted with his liberal northern senator friends.
President Obama and the Democrats have not given up on the South. They have in fact announced that the 2012 Democratic National Convention will be in Charlotte, NC. They probably have about the same chance as carrying the South as Pryor has to staying in office in 2014.
The Daily Hatch 