The long goodbye
Is the white Southern Democrat extinct, endangered or just hibernating?
AFTER President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he reportedly turned to his press secretary and lamented that Democrats “have lost the South for a generation.” Johnson's judgment was optimistic. Despite brief flashes of strength during the presidential elections of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Democrats—particularly white Democrats—have been losing ground in the South for half a century.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The long goodbye”
From the November 13th 2010 edition
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