The Huffington Post Editorial, 10/12/7
The Southern Strategy, refers to the Republican Party’s overt appeals to white voters to the exclusion of blacks in the South. This strategy, on the heals of landmark civil rights legislation, should be viewed as the patriarch of America’s current political divisiveness.
The “Southern Strategy” has proven so effective for Republicans that, except for Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Democratic presidential nominees have all but written off the South as part of their electoral strategy.
In Mississippi, “Democrat” has become a euphemism for the N-word. In 2003, then Republican challenger, Haley Barbour paid no political price for his unwillingness to disavow his association with the racist White Citizens Council. Barbour’s photo adorned the council’s website when the candidate attended one of their fundraisers.