I'm sure that we won't win the Bible Belt, but my early prediction for 2008 is that we will take the moderate Southern states like Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and possibly even Tennessee.

Why do I say this? Well, it just seems as though lately people in the states I mentioned (among others) are getting sick of the republicans' mind games. They're getting sick of them not being tough on border control, they're getting sick of our economy and SS being in the slums, and they're sick of them playing God as seen in the Terri Schiavo fiasco.

A lot of articles on Kos have been saying the same thing lately.

My bet is that in 2008, as long as it's not a northeastern liberal on the dem ticket, we'll have a really strong platform to run on.

What do you guys think? I made this topic because it seems a lot of people believe the dem party is soon to be no more.

I don't know, anything can happen I guess. I don't usually make predictions like this though, because I don't know the dynamics of most of thos states very well.

On that point, I think it's ridiculous how a lot of people are like "Oh the Democrats are in so much trouble" when we have the states that most people live in, and the election difference was barely more than 1% against an incumbent pResident. That's a record, every past incumbent president has won in a landslide, not to mention the fact that Shrub is a war time pResident.

I think the Dems are in some amount of trouble, between us being sort of all over the place and the fact that we don't seem to have come up with good strategies for combatting the Rep lies. I don't think these are insurmountable problems, but I do think we need to deal with them.

As for taking some of the Southern states, a lot of that's going to depend on who the candidate ends up being. I think a "northeastern liberal" is going to have an awful lot of trouble getting votes in the South. This is one reason I don't want Hillary to run.

I think it's far too early to make any predictions about which states we may or may not take. It all depends on so much . . .

I think Harry Reid has done an excellent job standing up for us. If he and Dean can spread that aura, we'll be in good shape.

I know lots of Democrats are sick of reps in Georgia. :bad: :bad: :bad:

What do you think about us taking back Georgia in 08 modom? Are the people their growing sick of Bush's phony BS? I know it's part of the Bible Belt, but there's always hope.

As a Christian, I can tell you dont be so sure...
There are several athiests from GOP that will possibly be running for president.
I say dont expect as much poor support from religious community as 04.
I suspect most of the churches willl remain neutral, and Gore has shown to be a good Baptist Christian too.
He will get his share of votes there.

While I wouldn't classify my home state of Missouri as purely southern--although much of it is culturally southern, but much of it is culturally pure midwest too--it is indeed giving Gopers a good run!! Anyway, I'm sure we will kick our boy Governor--Matt Blunt or as I like to call him The Runt. Since being elected he has called urban dwellers in KC and St Louis losers and called these cities "places where no one wants to live." Of course both voted against him and in favor of his Democratic opponent Claire McCaskill heavily. He has turned about 110,000 poor individuals--2/3 of them children--off Medicaid. He and his GOP controlled legislature has 'reformed' tort law and changed the rules regarding workers compensation--essentially giving much more power to business. Further, he has allowed the Confederate flag to be flown at a confederate grave site that receives state aid. Moreover he has advocated increased cuts in funding for the already pitiful state of mental health. While all this suits many of the individuals who voted for him in his effort to make the state 'more business friendly,' he pissed off his fundamentalist base. It seems that the business interests and the fundamentalist interests had a conflict of interest regarding stem cell research--something of which both St. Louis and Kansas City are pushing hard to gain a foot hold. Yes I think we will have grown tired of him very quickly and don't expect him to be re-elected in '08. Moreover Missouri's Senator Jim Talent is considered one of the most vulnerable candidates in '06. Down with the GOP!

I think this Plame outing scandal which only strengthens the Downing Street Memo's point that the Bush Administration had been "fixing the intelligence around the policy" in the run up to the war with Iraq, is the Republican's Achille's heel in the south. This scandal hurts them on at least two fronts, the first is very act of treason it self, those same angry patriotic Country music singers and listeners now have a serious mental disconnect, whether to do what comes instinctively which is to stand by their President right or wrong and to square that with the real possibility that their President has betrayed them and everything he claims to stand for. The second front that this hurts them on is with the religious community here in the south, Bush has excelled at waving the flag and hiding behind the cross.
This scandal exposes his hypocrisy not to mention his overall lack of credibility including religious credibility. This scandal more than makes up for any lingering Lewinsky scandal residue in the south.
I have not checked any polls in the south however two pieces of anecdotal evidence give me hope here in Tennessee. The first is the ratio of antiBush letters to the editor of the Tennessean have dramatically increased over any proBush letters. The second is the scarcity of Bush or W bumper stickers, at one time it seemed everybody and their mama had one on their automobile, now I have been looking for them to count and have been heartened at their diminished numbers.
I believe that if the Republicans in congress do not seperate themselves from Bush they will take a pounding in the south in 2006 and if Al runs in 2008, he will dominate.

Boy, wouldn't it be great if you were right about all that.

I would think by now EVERYONE, everywhere would be sick of Republicans.