Over at the Motley Fool a commentator - Ivangrowth - wrote:
1. Sea of red - the south. Gone. Went blue. The people haven't changed; the party has. I voted for tons of strong, socially progressive Dem's in Alabama and Florida thruout the 70s and 80s who exercised fiscal restraint, social progress, and moral leadership.
The people haven't changed -- the party has. John Kerry. Give the south John Kerry...heavens.
Some blogosphere comments / links that seem to sum up the same thing:
Courtesy of Michelle Malkin is a county by county map of dem vs repub. The dems are a patchy party. Even in states where they won (such as California) they are limited to certain, mainly urban, areas.
Howard Dean said he wanted to appeal to the guys in pickup trucks. He's correct, the dems need this vote, although he might have phrased the desire a bit better. One way to get it is suggested to be a retreat on gun control another is that they need to get the message out in a way that resonates with "blue collar" workers.
Both ideas have merit. Zell Miller was a Democrat who spoke at the Republican convention. Zell Miller style democrats would undoubtedly seduce a lot of the "McCain" republicans. Unfortunately the Democrats seem beholden to an leftist elite whose beliefs are driving out the moderates. There ought to be a third way that represents these people. People who are generally for fiscal responsibility and personal responsibility but who generally think that what you do in your bedroom is your choice and no one else's business (other than the person with you)...
Update:Roxanne has a link to an editorial in the Memphis Flyer that makes the point even better: ...while the President carried the state by 15 percentage points, Senator Kerry carried Tennessee's two most populous counties by 14. The divisions in this country are not as simple as the colors on a map might suggest; we are divided by neighborhoods, not states. And unless we're prepared to indulge in our own version of ethnic cleansing, over-simplifying these divisions, as the national media is wont to do, does no one any good.
A commenter there puts it down to (lack of) eddycashun, which is in fact remarkably condescending and precisely the wrong attitude. Just maybe the Democrats should try listening to why rural voters vote Republican and start thinking what policies they should support that would be appreciated by such rural voters...