Southern Democrats

From the election of Jimmy Carter to the wide defection of Democrats inthe South to the Republican ticket in the Reagan/Bush years, Southern Democratshave played a crucial role in recent American national politics. With the 1992election of President Clinton, they once again occupy a place at the center ofthe American political stage. A timely examination of this important phenomenonin American politics, Southern Democrats traces the history of this influentialregional faction and guages the extent and nature of Southern Democraticinfluence in congressional and presidential politics today.Nicol Rae argues that the Southern Democrats remain a distinctive factiondespite the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which initiated the end ofthe social and economic system that had previously bound them together. The onlysurviving political faction based on regional--rather thanideological--concerns, they have nevertheless evolved from being a deviantelement within the party to coming closer to the national Democratic norm whichis most apparent in civil rights issues.Drawing on interviews with many southern politicians and memoirs and accountsof past campaigns, Rae deals with the success of Southern Democrat andDemocratic Leadership Council leader Bill Clinton in winning the 1992 Democraticpresidential nomination, and reveals the changing role of Southern Democrats ininternal party politics and national elections. He concludes with an overallassessment of the present and future state of this important southern wing ofthe Democratic party.

Nicol C. Rae is Associate Professor of Political Science at Florida International University.

List of Tables	p. XV
Introduction	p. 3
The South and American Party Factionalism	p. 6
Factions and Factionalism	p. 6
American Party Factionalism Before the New Deal	p. 9
The New Deal, a Period of Transition	p. 12
American Party Factionalism After the New Deal	p. 15
The Republicans: Conservative Dominance	p. 17
Democratic Party Factionalism in the 1990s: A Complex Pattern	p. 20
Implications	p. 24
The Old Southern Democracy and Its Erosion, 1876 to 1965	p. 27
Politics in the Antebellum South: Honor and Slavery	p. 28
Reconstruction and Restoration: The Forging of the Solid South, 1860 to 1896	p. 30
The Solid South at High Tide, 1896 to 1948	p. 33
The Civil Rights Movement and the Disintegration of the One-Party South, 1948 to 1965	p. 40
The Democrats' Presidential Weakness in the South, 1968 to 1988	p. 46
The Years of Realignment, 1968 and 1972	p. 47
Analysis of a Realignment	p. 49
The South and the Democrats' Presidential Nominating Process Since 1968	p. 52
Jimmy Carter, the Exceptional Case	p. 55
The Super Tuesday Debacle in 1988	p. 58
Conclusion: Waiting for Recession?	p. 63
Southern Democrats in the U.S. Congress	p. 65
The House	p. 66
The Rise and Fall of the "Old South" in the House	p. 66
Why Are They Still Democrats?	p. 68
Issues and Ideology	p. 73
Southern Democrats and the House Democratic Party	p. 79
Regional Identity and Organization	p. 88
Souther House Democrats and the National Party	p. 92
Summary	p. 96
The Senate	p. 96
The "Solid South" in the U.S. Senate	p. 96
A New Senate: Ideology and Partisanship	p. 99
Senate Southern Democrats in the 1990s	p. 103
Summary	p. 109
The Conservative Counterattack: The Democratic Leadership Council	p. 111
The First Phase of the DLC	p. 113
The DLC's Infrastructure	p. 117
The DLC's Mission and Policies	p. 117
The DLC at the Outset of the 1992 Campaign	p. 120
Conclusion: The Absent Center	p. 124
The 1992 Election: The South Recaptures the Democratic Party and the White House	p. 128
A Big Fish in a Small Pond: The Democratic Field in 1992	p. 129
The Democratic Primary Campaign	p. 134
Bill Clinton's Democratic Party: The 1992 Democratic Convention and Perot Mark I	p. 142
Perot Mark II and the Fall Campaign	p. 144
The Election Result and the New Democratic Administration	p. 146
Conclusion	p. 149
Conclusion: The Future of the Southern Democrats and American Party Factionalism in the 1990s	p. 151
Southern Democrats and the Clinton Presidency	p. 151
A New Factional Pattern?	p. 157
Notes	p. 161
Bibliography	p. 185
Index	p. 197
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