White Boys on Milk Cartons

Thomas Schaller says the white male voter, especially the Southern white male voter is missing:

I'm talking about the white male voter, or at least a certain long-coveted variety thereof. He is variously known as "NASCAR dad" -- that shirt-sleeved, straight-talkin', these-colors-don't-run fella who votes his cultural values above all else -- or "Bubba," as Steve Jarding and Dave "Mudcat" Saunders affectionately call him in their book, "Foxes in the Henhouse." Start looking on milk cartons for Bubba because he has vanished, and not a moment too soon: The Democratic obsession with the down-home, blue-collar, white male voter, that heartbreaker who crossed the aisle to the Republicans many decades ago, may finally be coming to a merciful end.

And the reason is the their share of the national vote is dropping about one percent per year. This trend started with the enfranchisement of the "increased enfranchisement of African-Americans in the civil rights era" and it's now accelerating with the expansion of the Hispanic population. As the base of the Republican Party continues its obsession on forcing out "illegal aliens," it forces Hispanics who may be culturally conservative to look for a more welcoming political home.

Interestingly, Schaller uses John Edwards, a white Southerner as evidence:

At first blush, Edwards, the Southern populist nonpareil, seems ideally situated to corner the market on working-class, white male voters. But aside from his homegrown accent, Edwards displays none of the affectations or semiotics that might once have signaled his intent to woo them. There are no Lamar Alexander-style flannel shirts; there is no sponsorship, à la Florida Sen. Bob Graham four years ago, of a NASCAR racing team. Instead, Edwards -- whose father worked in a textile mill -- hammers the issue of economic justice largely, if not completely, without overt cultural appeals. If he were a character from Southern literature, the former trial lawyer would be Atticus Finch of "To Kill a Mockingbird," not Henry Drummond of "Inherit the Wind."

Schaller reviews the past several Presidential elections and finds the Southern white vote to be of less and less importance. Take a look.