Rallying for Clark in the South

[wyldwolf]

The ghosts of Democrats past haunted the east side of Charleston, S.C., Saturday afternoon. Rep. William Jefferson, the first African-American since Reconstruction elected to Congress from Louisiana, rallied volunteers for ret. Gen. Wesley Clark by retracing some of his party's presidential missteps.

"We need to have a candidate with Southern roots to get this job done. We went through Mike Dukakis in '88. People down here didn't understand what he was saying,'' Jefferson told a dozen Clark canvassers ready to leaflet a public housing complex on Charleston's east side.

"When Al Gore ran last time, he didn't pay enough attention to the South, and we wound up losing everything,'' Jefferson added before underscoring the importance of South Carolina's Feb. 3 primary. "This is the gateway to Arizona and Oklahoma and the rest of it. Give us a chance to fight for his nomination."

Jefferson was joined by Thomas Blanton, one of the Clark campaign's self-described "Buffalo Soldiers.'' Named for the nation's unsung black warriors of the 19th century, Clark's version is a group of political consultants and others who are trying to rally South Carolina's substantial black vote to his side.

A Texas native, Blanton looked at home in his black cowboy hat as he and Jefferson stumped for Clark on Saturday. Quoting a fellow Buffalo Soldier, Blanton quipped: "If you're going to be a soldier, you have to work for a general."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-040124dispatch,1,6068006.story?coll=chi-homepagenews2-utl

[maddezmom]

1. nice article, thanks for posting :)

[Jerseycoa]

2. Oh, this is a damned GOOD day

:bounce:

[democratreformed]

3. Thanks for sharing n/t

[mitchtv]

4. pretty scary to me blatant regionalism

We need to have a candidate with Southern roots to get this job done. We went through Mike Dukakis in '88. People down here didn't understand what he was saying > thanks but no thanks I' guess i'll hold out for a Yankee or westerner only , just like they're doing

[Bombtrack]

6. there are no westerners, or midwesterners in the race

at least not in serious contention.

Right now you have a choice between 2 working class-hero-type southerners, one of whom is a war hero, or 2 eastern establishment elite northeastern Yalies, ONLY one of whom is a war hero.

[mitchtv]

11. I chose the one with the closest politics to me

the North easterner

[CrazyRP]

5. That endorsement is great...

Wes desperately NEEDS the South.
Does anybody have poll numbers for South Carolina or any of the Feb 3 primaries?

[Loren645]

7. So what do you guys think? Is the South hopelessly Republican?

Or can Clark and/or Edwards win some or all?

[QC]

9. "The South" is not a monolith.

Some states are winnable and some are not. And even many of those states that Bush carried still have 40%+ Democratic voter registrations, Democrats in Congress, and state legislatures controlled by Democrats.

A lot of states are hopeless in presidential terms, but with the right candidate we can probably pick up Arkansas, Louisiana, and maybe even Florida if they can somehow manage to hold a clean election.

[Auntie Bush]

8. Those Buffalo Soldiers are going to stomp

the hell out of Bush and and everyone else with dem boots. Clark will win!

[Ivote]

10. I hate to

say this but I think that the South does tend to love Generals first