Should we nominate a Southerner because they're from the South?

[UrbScotty]

I say this with much love to the Southerners, but no, we shouldn't.

The last time a Northerner became President, his name was Gerald R. Ford. The last time a Northern Democrat became President, his name was John F. Kennedy. Before Kennedy, there was Truman (if you count Missouri as a Northern state, which I personally do), and before Truman, there was none other than Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

In endorsing Clark, Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-Louisiana) mentioned that the last three Democrats to become President were from the South. He's right, of course; Johnson, Carter, and Clinton were from Texas, Georgia, and Arkansas. But, as fun as it is to know history, we must remember that politics are like investments: Past results don’t guarantee future successes or failures. Besides, the past is the past. “Let the dead past bury its dead,” said Longfellow. In every election, things happen that hadn't happened in several elections. We went 27 elections in a row without the Popular vote winner NOT becoming President, until 2000. We've gone ten elections without a Northerner being elected. Trends are made, trends are broken.

“With all due respect,” as they say, to the Southerners on this board, I think to endorse someone based on where they live is wrong. Sometimes Northerners make better Presidents than Southerners (i.e. FDR and JFK), sometimes it works out vice versa (i.e. Clinton and Carter).

If Edwards or Clark are indeed our best choice, so be it; in all circumstances, may the best candidate win. However, to nominate someone based solely on where they live and what has happened in the past for fear that a New Englander would lose to Bush, is to succumb to fear. I believe some Democrats did that fifteen months ago; it didn’t work. If we succumb to fear, then Bush&Co. have won.

[krkaufman]

1. Clark is best candidate; Southern roots is just a fringe benefit

Clark is arguably the best candidate (see posts elsewhere); his Southern roots are just a fringe benefit that will especially help attract swing voters across swing states.

[LiberalBushFan]

13. For Clark it's a fringe benefit

whereas for Edwards it's one of his main themes. (I think Edwards emphasizes it too much which adds to the perception that he's an image without substance).

[arewethereyet]

2. for me, that Edwards is southern is gravy

that he has the best program, principles and is the best communicator is paramount.

The southerner in me would like to think that its because of his upbringing that he was bound to become the man that he is but the truth is that he made himself into the success that he is by hard work, faith and principle.

And it never hurts to be southern either.

To clarify from what I've heard on one of his ads this week, Clark was born in Chicago a,d moved to Arkansas. Thats borderline southern and he has no accent. Doesn't count.

[JVS]

3. I insist that my Southerners be from the North

[lastknowngood]

4. The Dem's desperately need a souther strategy other than let's

get a southerner of the V.P spot. That's not a strategy that's just desperation. If your going to appeal to us southerners, coming from Arkansas I think I can offer an opinion your going to have to come to grips with the fact that gun control in N.Y. is not the same as in Arkansas. Also you need to understand that they are by and large Baptist who have a literal reading of the bible and because they for the most part rural and from small towns. I don't fit the mold because I started reading Joseph Campbell in junior high and joined the army and saw a lot of the world. Most of them live and die within a few hundred miles.

[lcordero]

5. I doubt that we'll get any mileage from nominating a southerner

''The Democratic Party is the party that talks about the black vote and attaining it by any means necessary,'' Aiken said. ''Now, that does not equate with 'We value the black vote' as much as 'We have to attain it in order to get what we want.''' The routine currency in this exchange is emotion -- for white candidates a little soul power soaked up from a gospel choir and shed just as easily. Candidates parade through church, Aiken noted, but, she said: ''Has anyone done a follow-up visit after a campaign? You know, 'I came to your church, asked for your vote, the preacher gave me the pat and we prayed. Now I'm in; I'm going to make one more trip back, at least to thank you.'''

It is commonly recognized that whichever passing churchgoer ultimately becomes the party's nominee, he will not be seen here again. In the Democratic National Committee's markup of battleground and nonbattleground states for November, South Carolina falls definitively into the latter category. (Bush easily won the state in the 2000 election with nearly 60 percent of the vote.) Some Democratic strategists say that the party might be smart to write off not just South Carolina but the whole South (except Florida) and concentrate on states more demonstrably in play. It is less commonly noted that writing off the South, home to 55 percent of the country's black population, symbolically means writing off African-Americans as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/magazine/01VOTERS.html?pagewanted=2&8hpib

I don't think that a Southerner on the ticket will help. A person with some sincerity will. The problem is finding a politician that is actually sincere.

[GreenArrow]

8. "The problem is finding a politician that is actually sincere"

Kucinich is, but he's unelectable. Only insincere candidates are electable.

[arewethereyet]

9. luckily we have all that in one package

Edwards

but you are right to suggest that some southerner as veep is futile.

[mot78]

6. It's unfair to regionalize

it's also divisive to America as a nation-state. It doesn't matter to me where they come from, as long as they can lead, and can fight off Rove, then I'm happy. Ironically, the only TRUE Southern Presidents of the last two generations have all been Democrats (Johnson, Cater, Clinton) while every Republican has been a Yankee (Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush Sr., and Bush*..both New Englanders).

[question everything]

7. I think that it stems from the suspicion that southerners feel

toward the Yankees. And this is why Kerry, when asked last week, replied that Southerns have the same concerns as everyone.

But I think that there is a cultural difference. I posted about it last week, I think. People in the South tend to be more church goers (what many of us refer to as Bible thumbing). Having their lives influenced by their religion affects their outlook on life, including the "hot buttons" of abortion, homosexuals and even the death penalty.

I think that by now only 16 states do not have the death penalty on their book and all of them are northerns.

Iowans warmed to Edwards because of his positive campaign. Dare we ascribe this to him being a "southern gentleman" as opposed to the northern in-your-face attitude?

But I agree. We should not have a candidate just because he is a southern and I think that both Edwards and Clark will be the first to say so.

[dolstein]

10. No - we should nominate a Southerner because we need to win

While I know that there are many DU'ers would desperately want to lose this election, just so they can keep their ideological purity intact, the plain truth is that Democrats can't get anything done if they don't start winning elections. And if we want to win this election, we'll pick a candidate from the South for the simple reason that a Southerner stands the best chance of winning a few red states. Perhaps if someone from the Southwest or a state like Ohio were in the race, things might be different. It's hard to imagine Kerry carrying any states that Gore failed to carry. Perhaps New Hampshire, but with the shifting of electoral votes, even that might not be enough. I have nothing personal against Northern candidates. It's just that Southern Democrats like Clinton and Gore proved that they could be competitive in the West, the Midwest and the Northeast, whereas Northern Democrats have yet to demonstrate that they can be competitive in the South.

[arewethereyet]

11. can't argue with that (left out Carter, he won too, with accent)

you have to set your priorities

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Should we vote in a Northerner because ....?

Nothing about this election is this simplified.

[Dhalgren]

14. I don't think any Democrat can win unless he is from

Brazil.