CQ Study: South Is 'GOP Firewall'
Today's edition of CQPolitics has a sobering article entitled "CQ Ratings Show South Remains GOP Firewall Against House Election Disaster." According to the staff-written post, "Democrats’ opportunities for more Southern gains in 2008 are very limited." The CQ study sees NC-8 and FL-13 being the Dems' best shot at House pick-ups, with slim pickings beyond those two seats and Dems struggling to hold several of their southern seats.
Puzzling that Dems can't do better in Southern House races, especially considering that Democrats currently hold majorities of both houses of the state legislatures in LA, MS, AL, AR, NC and WV, and one House each in TN and KY. One possible explanation: As Ed Kilgore has pointed out, "nearly half the region's House seats are in three super-gerrymandered states, Texas, Florida and Georgia."






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One of the reasons we will continue to have problems in South is that so many African-American males have been disenfranchised, in part because of crack vs. cocaine sentencing disparities and sentencing enhancements that were part of the Clinton 1994 Omnibus Crime bill.