Comments on: Ballot Watch: The South (Part 1, The Solid South)

By: Logarchism » Ballot Watch: The South (Part 2, The Swinging South)

Logarchism » Ballot Watch: The South (Part 2, The Swinging South) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:01:57 +0000

[…] contrast with the states of the Deep South, which have exactly one House seat in play (Georgia’s 12th, currently held by the only white […]

By: Max

Max — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 01:15:00 +0000

rgbact,

Not saying the Dems are Simon pure in the whole gerrymandering scheme, but all you gotta do is look at a congressional district map, refer back to the legislatures that drew them and the facts jump in your lap. AND 50 years of redlining didn't help.

By: rgbact

rgbact — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:26:39 +0000

Republican legislatures have used their gerrymander to corral African-American voters into a few “majority minority” districts,

So what about blacks "corraling" themselves by living in cities and voting monolithically? How exactly do you not "corral"people that all vote the same and live close together.....assuming it would even comply with the Voting Right Act?

I'm also confused why you appear to analyze Southern House races and gerrymandering....yet avoid North Carolina. Redistricting hasn't changed a ton in the South, but N. Carolina! It was projected to be a 3 seat pickup for the GOP and right now RCP has 2 seats solid and 1 leaning.

By: channelclemente

channelclemente — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 18:12:46 +0000

dc,

as I said once before, I lived in Lake County for a decade, ergo my surprise it even had a chance of going Dem. I knew people in Zion, and the whole fabric of that down is built around southern conservatism rebel flags, swastikas and all. It's biker heaven, just 4-5 miles from the nuclear reactor and the Johns Manville asbestos dump.

By: dcpetterson

dcpetterson — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:38:09 +0000

cc, growing up near Chicago, I was well aware of the continued presence of the Birchers and others. A branch of that movement morphed into Illinois Nazis.

By: channelclemente

channelclemente — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:26:28 +0000

Although it's not part of the central story-line, the rural Midwest played a big part in the "Southern Strategy" as well. In the first 1/3 of the 20th century, contrary to popular belief, the Klan almost died out in many parts of the south, with the exception of Miss. and Ala., and the membership to sustain it was drawn from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and southern Wisconsin. With the onset of the post 1918 red scare, and rise of fascism in Europe, Jim Crow grew strong and regained it's appeal in the deep south, where attitudes never changed, but militancy had diminished. To this day there are regular Klan and White Supremacist meetings in places like Zion, Illinois and Kenosha, Wisconsin. The current headquarters of the John Birch Society isn't in Tuscaloosa but Grand Chute, Wisconsin. So to say the 'Southern Strategy' focused in the deep south is true, but that was the source of the Congressional Power, it was a more widespread phenomenon.

As a peculiar footnote, Larry MacDonald the past president of John Birch Society was killed in the Korean Airliner downed by the Soviets in the mid 1980s, and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) has petitioned for that event and particularly MacDonald's death to be investigated by the Senate as a potential conspiracy to kill MacDonald.