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TAKE ON THE SOUTH: Does the Road to the White House Run Through the South?
Thursday, Oct. 16 from 9-10 p.m. on ETV Noted SC Historian Walter Edgar Moderates Provocative Debate on the Subject Schaller: 2008 Is the First Time 25 percent of Votes Cast by Non-Whites Black: Republican Landslides in the ’80s Are Gone and Not Coming Back
Between Scholars/Authors Thomas Schaller and Earl Black
Yet Dems Never Told “You need to go after the J-Lo vote”
For Immediate Release
September 26, 2008
Columbia SC…The one thing political pundits all seem to agree on this election season is that this presidential contest is one for the ages. With no incumbent, wars on two fronts, and a problem-plagued economy, Americans find their attention increasingly riveted to the presidential campaign.
So, in 2008, the question remains: Does the road to the White House run through the South?
That was the subject of debate recently at ETV between noted scholars/authors, Earl Black and Thomas Schaller.
Black is a political science professor at Rice University, and the co-author of “Divided America: The Ferocious Power Struggle in American Politics,” and Schaller is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and author of “Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South.”
Their debate, moderated by noted SC historian Walter Edgar, host of “Walter Edgar’s Journal” on ETV Radio, and a history professor at USC, airs on ETV on Thursday, Oct. 16 from 9-10 p.m.
During the hour-long show, Black lays out the case for why Republicans have no margin of error in the South this election—Black says they need every Southern state if John McCain hopes to claim the presidency.
While he insists that the Democrats, with standard bearer Barack Obama, have more options in their path to the White House, he nonetheless cautions that Dems would be well-advised to make their job easier by carrying at least two Southern states.
Finally, Black makes no bones about his take on the modern political climate, saying the days of Republican landslides “are gone and not coming back.”
Meanwhile, Schaller said a University of Michigan study in 2004 demonstrated that when it comes to Southern voters and issues of national defense and abortion, a correlation between their attitudes on those subjects and who gets their presidential vote cannot be established—but the same cannot be said about the issue of race.
Schaller also said, that despite the fact that in 2008, one-quarter of the votes will be cast by non-whites for the first time, “You never hear someone say to the Democrats, ‘You need to go after the J-Lo vote.’”
Schaller said that the South has proven the hardest region for the Democrats to compete in ideologically, while Black opined that the parties are more ideologically polarized than ever.
Other topics batted back and forth: Everything from the strategy Bill Clinton employed to claim the presidency twice, to the pivotal role Ohio currently enjoys, to the closeness of the recent presidential elections triggering the current partisan climate.
Then, once the cameras stopped rolling, Edgar, Black and Schaller continued their animated discussion, chatting about—among other topics—the role the Midwest and the Southwest might play for Democrats in the future. To view this Web cast, go to www.myetv.org.
This is the first in a series of eight TAKE ON THE SOUTH broadcasts. The next edition will air in Spring 2009. Among the topics that will be explored in those future editions are the economy, the environment and the arts and how they impact the South.
Funding for the program was provided by the University of South Carolina's Institute for Southern Studies with a grant from the Watson-Brown Foundation.
South Carolina ETV is the state's public educational broadcasting network with 11 television and eight radio transmitters, and a multi-media educational system in more than 2,500 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies. Using television, radio and the web, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning.
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For more information, contact Dana McCullough at (803) 737-3212 or dmccullough@scetv.org.
Photos may be downloaded for the sole purpose of publicizing this program. To download an image, click on the picture below. A new Web page will open containing the hi-res version. Right click on the hi-res image, and select "Save As" or "Save Picture As."
Dr. Walter Edgar, host of ETV Radio's "Walter Edgar's Journal," serves as moderator for the "Take on the South" debate series. Photo credit: Allen Sharpe/ETV
Thomas Schaller (left) drives home his point, while Earl Black listens during the "Take on the South" debate. Photo credit: Allen
Thomas Schaller, assistant professor of political science at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and author of "Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South." Photo credit: Allen Sharpe/ETV
Earl Black, political science professor at Rice University and co-author of "Divided America: The Ferocious Power Struggle in American Politics." Photo Credit: Allen Sharpe/ETV
Photos may be downloaded for the sole purpose of publicizing this program. To download an image, click on the picture below. A new Web page will open containing the hi-res version. Right click on the hi-res image, and select "Save As" or "Save Picture As."
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