Blend questions of the day

(AP): Merle Black, an Emory University political scientist, says more than 80 percent of white conservatives in the South now belong to the Republican Party, and only 10 percent are Democrats.

Unlike in the past, when seniority alone dictated leadership positions for the party, Black says parties now hand-pick their committee leaders. For Democrats, he said, that means the rewards tend to go more often to liberals.

"It's almost impossible to have a leadership position in the House Democratic Party if one behaves as a conservative," Black said.

* What if anything, does this trend say about the South and the future of progressive Democratic politics?

* Is the cultural divide so wide and deep that we cannot ever expect to reach these people, even on economic issues that should appeal to them?

* Are you blue staters just going to say "f*ck the South?"

* Why is there still a movement to dump on the progressive wing as the source of the problem with electability?

Gay rights or women's rights shouldn't be compromises; yet these are precisely the kinds of topics that end up on the bargaining table when it comes to strategizing what it takes to "win." As we've discussed before, going the DLC route got us Don't Ask, Don't Tell and DOMA -- and we still lost those voters to the Repugs.