Showing Some Fight

From Surburban Guerrilla, I see that Howard Dean is boldly going where Terry McAuliffe refused to go at all, that is, places like Mississippi:

Praying for American troops and evoking biblical images of helping the needy, Howard Dean told Mississippi Democrats on Tuesday night that the national party won't give up on socially conservative states.

"We're not going to concede the South," the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee told an overflow crowd of more than 900 people in a dining room that was set up for 800 in the Clarion hotel near downtown Jackson.

"The South will rise again, and when it does, it will have a D after its name," Dean said to applause from the diverse crowd of blacks and whites...

"The way we're going to win elections in this country is not to become Republican lite. The way we're going to win elections in this country is to stand up for what we believe in," Dean said.

Speaking at the $75-a-plate Mississippi Democratic Party dinner, Dean criticized the national debt and said: "You cannot trust Republicans with your taxpayer dollars."

It's about goddamned time the Democrats made a national play for the South. To be sure, there are plenty of ignorant hatemongers down here, but there are also a surprising number of progressives and moderates. There is also a substantial number of voters inclined to look favorably on Democrats, if Democrats will listen--black voters who KNOW the GOP has adopted the mantle of institutional racism. Combine this with enough white voters, and the GOP wouldn't be whistling Dixie every four years.