Southern Phobia

Kevin of Lean Left comments on Dean's Southern Strategy and makes an important point:

This is a good move, politically. First, Democrats have to start to understand that the kind of person the Democrats would vote for nationally - meaning the kind of person who can win the presidency - is not the kind of person who Democrats elect in the South - if the current dynamic remains in place. And they need to stop apologizing for it. I don't hear Republicans worrying about how they can never win the Atlantic Northeast by nominating a failure from Texas - they just go ahead and nominate the failure from Texas and worry about winning in other parts of the country. [highlight mine - Chris]

Amen brother! Democrats spend far to much time worrying about how they might lose some particular constituency (and, even worse, worrying more about ones they don't have instead of the ones they should have). As Kevin says, the Republicans don't let their failure to win in New York (or California) bother them. They just form winning coalitions out of other groups of states.

It's long past time for the Democrats to get over their Southern Phobia.