The Changing South May Play to Obama's Advantage

While Virginia is slowly moving into the 20th century - despite the kicking and screaming of the GOP and the Christian Taliban which holds that party's reins - there is still much that needs to be done to move the state into the 21st Century. But as I noted, things ARE changing, albeit not at the pace many thinking and rational citizens would prefer. Something similar is happening in other southern states and the trend seems to be causing the GOP consternation. Never mind that the GOP has consciously embraced ignorance, intolerance, and bigotry based on race and sexual orientation. The Washington Post looks at this development. Here are some brief highlights:
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The dynamics in North Carolina that worry Republicans — a booming minority population, an influx of more moderate voters and a changing set of priorities — are on display across other parts of the South as well, most notably in Virginia and Florida, where Obama also won in 2008.
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This time around, his campaign hopes to make a play for Georgia and Texas, seeing in those states the same sorts of economic and cultural changes as elsewhere in the South. An Obama victory in either would be a long shot, but a win in any of those Southern states would make it difficult for Republicans to capture the presidency.
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In North Carolina, the changing nature of the state is on display regularly. At a recent forum on education, executives with drug maker GlaxoSmithKline and IBM, which have big presences in the Raleigh area’s Research Triangle Park, pleaded with Gov. Beverly Perdue (D) to oppose service cuts proposed by a new GOP majority in the state legislature. In rural Wilson, 40 miles east of Raleigh, business and civic leaders seem to reflect the changing values and priorities of voters.
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Many Republicans worry that their party hasn’t entirely grasped the evolving nature of the South. To them, that means fully giving up on what was known as the “Southern strategy,” an approach to winning elections based largely on appeals to rural whites on cultural touchstones such as abortion and race.
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“This is no longer only the party of Jesse Helms,” said Paul Shumaker, a GOP strategist based in Raleigh who advises, among others, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.). “I tell my clients, and I tell others: ‘You need to quit looking through the rearview mirror, and you need to start looking through the windshield.’ ”
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Perhaps most conspicuous of all, Obama’s team chose Charlotte to host the party’s convention next year. In 2008, Obama transformed the Democratic National Convention in Denver into a massive recruitment center that helped push him to victory in Colorado. Campaign strategists expect a repeat in Charlotte. “It will be 2008 on steroids,” said Scott Falmlen, a Democratic consultant in Raleigh
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Not all Republicans are ready to abandon the “Southern strategy,” a game plan that Helms famously used to great effect as recently as 1990 with a TV ad stoking white resentment over affirmative action. . . . But if those tactics still work in localized legislative races — as it is widely presumed they do — there is a growing belief that they are less effective statewide. Hayes said the GOP plans unprecedented outreach to blacks, Latinos and young voters.
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Yet Republicans continue to give Democrats material to portray the GOP as out of step. In Raleigh, the Republican-controlled General Assembly is considering bills that would curtail early voting and voter registration and require a photo identification to cast a ballot. Republican House Speaker Thom Tillis said the measures are intended to reduce voter fraud or costs, but Democrats say they are really about blocking young and minority voters.