WHY is it that northerners vote for southerners, women vote for men,

[Sparkly]

and minorities vote for white people, but in national elections, both parties fear running a BLACK candidate, a WOMAN candidate, or a NORTHERN candidate?

(And yeah, I admit that's one reason I was enthusiastic about Kerry as a candidate -- the dreaded New England Liberal!)

What are your thoughts about WHY this is, and WHAT can be done about it?

[Warpy]

1. Conventional wisdom

which may be the former but is rarely the latter. It says that only a white, male, southern conservative can win the country.

Of course, it's been so long since we've had a candidate who sounds like a Democrat, who can say for certain?

[Sparkly]

2. Aw, c'mon now, Warpy.

In both their accents, both Gore and Kerry sounded like Democrats to me! Think: affirmative action, reproductive freedom, public education, environmental protection, international diplomacy, minimum wage, urban renewal, headstart -- the list goes on and on.

Do you think it's true that only a white, southern man (leave "conservative" vs. "liberal" out for the moment) can win national election? And if so, why?

[Warpy]

3. They played all those things down

and a lot of what got on the news was what they agreed with Stupid about.

Thank the DLC for packaging decent candidates into bland, spineless nobodies who didn't persuade anybody they'd get a better deal than tax cuts.