Blue Dixie
Awakening the South's Democratic Majority
Bob Moser
Times Books
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$7.99
Times Books
Henry Holt and Co.
On Sale: 08/19/2008
ISBN: 9781429929608
288 PagesA powerful case for a new Southern strategy for the Democrats, from an award-winning reporter and native Southerner
In 2000 and 2004, the Democratic Party decided not to challenge George W. Bush in the South, a disastrous strategy that effectively handed Bush more than half of the electoral votes he needed to win the White House. As the 2008 election draws near, the Democrats have a historic opportunity to build a new progressive majority, but they cannot do so without the South.
In Blue Dixie, Bob Moser argues that the Democratic Party has been blinded by outmoded prejudices about the region. Moser, the chief political reporter for The Nation, shows that a volatile mix of unprecedented economic prosperity and abject poverty are reshaping the Southern vote. With evangelical churches preaching a more expansive social gospel and a massive left-leaning demographic shift to African Americans, Latinos, and the young, the South is poised for a Democratic revival. By returning to a bold, unflinching message of economic fairness, the Democrats can win in the nation's largest, most diverse region and redeem themselves as a true party of the people.
Keenly observed and deeply grounded in contemporary Southern politics, Blue Dixie reveals the changing face of American politics to the South itself and to the rest of the nation.
Chapter One
THE SOLID SOUTHERN STRATEGY
THE TALE OF how Republicans "won" the South, and why Democrats gave it up, has been ironed out into a quintessentially American fable of good and evil and reduced to its satisfying essence...
Praise for Blue Dixie
“An incisive book about campaign strategy… Moser decries the failure of Democratic strategists to understand Southern voters [and] the sting is particularly keen.” —The Boston Globe
“A wake-up call… Moser's argument is cogent.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Moser convince[es] Democrats that the South is a lot more complicated and interesting that they have made it out to be.” —The New York Times Book Revew
“Conventional wisdom holds that the South is a solid GOP bloc… Moser explodes this myth.” —Charleston City Paper
“Moser [represents] many progressives, liberals and populists in the South… in his important and entertaining new book Blue Dixie.” —Independent Weekly (North Carolina)
“Moser argues that Democrats have lost elections when they don't compete for the South… The solution is a message of economic fairness.” —New York Post
“Well-written, well-researched and perfectly timed with this year's election cycle, this fascinating read is highly recommended to anyone interested in unraveling political fact from fiction and detecting the myriad complicated relationships that knit a nation together.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Moser… argues that Democrats in the rest of the country should put aside their stereotype of the South.” —In These Times
“Moser argues that Democrats can take back the South as the distance between haves and have-nots widens and a left-leaning demographic emerges.” —Library Journal
“Blue Dixie makes the most compelling c… More…
“An incisive book about campaign strategy… Moser decries the failure of Democratic strategists to understand Southern voters [and] the sting is particularly keen.” —The Boston Globe
“A wake-up call… Moser's argument is cogent.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Moser convince[es] Democrats that the South is a lot more complicated and interesting that they have made it out to be.” —The New York Times Book Revew
“Conventional wisdom holds that the South is a solid GOP bloc… Moser explodes this myth.” —Charleston City Paper
“Moser [represents] many progressives, liberals and populists in the South… in his important and entertaining new book Blue Dixie.” —Independent Weekly (North Carolina)
“Moser argues that Democrats have lost elections when they don't compete for the South… The solution is a message of economic fairness.” —New York Post
“Well-written, well-researched and perfectly timed with this year's election cycle, this fascinating read is highly recommended to anyone interested in unraveling political fact from fiction and detecting the myriad complicated relationships that knit a nation together.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Moser… argues that Democrats in the rest of the country should put aside their stereotype of the South.” —In These Times
“Moser argues that Democrats can take back the South as the distance between haves and have-nots widens and a left-leaning demographic emerges.” —Library Journal
“Blue Dixie makes the most compelling case I've read for why Democrats must not relinquish the South and, instead, compete hard for its votes, hearts, and minds with a bracing message of economic fairness!” —Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor, The Nation
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Bob Moser
