Is America ready for a woman (Hilary) or black (Obama) presidential candidate?

I have to correct you on the slavery/states's rights reference. The South rejected Stephen Douglas who ran on the popular sovereignty platform.

The South knew that a popular soveriegntly would not work for them and that thay would eventually concede the delicate stalemate in the Senate if the new states were allowed to construct their own slavery or abolition laws. In essence, states' rights (as regards the slavery issue) was not good enough for them. The Civil Was did end slavery and was largely about slavery. The simple fact is, if slavery did not exist, the war would never have happened.

It unfair, however, to characterize the South, in general, as racist. And some even like to characterize all Republicans as racists. The Democrats' biggest fear is a ticket with Colin Powell or Condi Rice.

 

Comparing a map of the old Confederacy and the 2004 vote is somewhat disingenuous. Lincoln got ZERO percent of the Southern slave-state vote in 1860 and JC Breckinridge (who became Jefferson Davis's Secretary of War) got ZERO percent of the Northern free-state vote.

Bush DID get 45 percent of the vote in California, 49 percent in New Hampshire, 48 percent in Pennsylvania, etc., etc. And Kerry did get over 40 percent in many old Confederate states. The electorate is not as geographically polarized as the media likes to paint it as.

The 11 states of the Confederacy only account for 142 (?) electoral votes - barely half of what is requires to win the election.

And a guy from China is the most popular basketball player in the Houston.

 

I don't have any stats in hand, but are you aware that a lot of northerners now live in the South?