Blue Dixie
Awakening the South's Democratic Majority
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A powerful case for a new Southern strategy for the Democrats, from an award-winning reporter and native Southerner
In 2000 and 2004, the Democratic Party decided not to challenge George W. Bush in the South, a disastrous strategy that effectively handed Bush more than half of the electoral votes he needed to win the White House. As the 2008 election draws near, the Democrats have a historic opportunity to build a new progressive majority, but they cannot do so without the South.
In Blue Dixie, Bob Moser argues that the Democratic Party has been blinded by outmoded prejudices about the region. Moser, the chief political reporter for The Nation, shows that a volatile mix of unprecedented economic prosperity and abject poverty are reshaping the Southern vote. With evangelical churches preaching a more expansive social gospel and a massive left-leaning demographic shift to African Americans, Latinos, and the young, the South is poised for a Democratic revival. By returning to a bold, unflinching message of economic fairness, the Democrats can win in the nation's largest, most diverse region and redeem themselves as a true party of the people.
Keenly observed and deeply grounded in contemporary Southern politics, Blue Dixie reveals the changing face of American politics to the South itself and to the rest of the nation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This arresting analysis from Moser, political correspondent for the Nation, debunks the belief in an "enduring Republican South," which he terms "the single most destructive myth of contemporary politics." The author wades into the "swirl of stereotypes" to challenge the conventional wisdom of many Democratic strategists, that the South is a Republican stronghold. Moser examines polls and voting trends that belie the idea of a conservative, fundamentalist, inherently racist voting bloc, looking instead at the history of the South as a breeding ground for progressivism and populist economic policies before proposing that the Democrats should stop trying to be "the party of 'Republicans Lite' " in order to win over Dixie. Moser details Jim Webb's and Barack Obama's successes in the South, praises Howard Dean's "fifty-state strategy" for re-energizing the Democratic Party in the region and gives insightful suggestions for how the party can continue the trend. Well-written, well-researched and perfectly timed with this year's election cycle, this fascinating read is highly recommended to anyone interested in unraveling political fact from fiction and detecting the myriad complicated relationships that knit a nation together.
