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This book would have been fairly solid if Schaller had written a 20-30 page introduction about the demise of the Democratic Party in the post-civil rights era, culture wars, etc instead of a major section on it. In one chapter he praises it, while in another reemphazing the need to cut on the South.
Schaller noted the rise of then-Senator Obama, but thought the then Senator would be brought on as vice-president, not on the top of the ticket, let alone be President of the United States. Written in 2006, Schaller accurately predicted the importance of the West to the Democratic Party in the 2008 election.
It's also confusing where Shaller stands on Dean's 50 state strategy. Shaller's critique of the Democratic Party is overall fairly solid; however, he is either missing, or lacking in a few things, such as how the party is going to curry the support of gun owners.
The party can and does, but on a case by case basis. Overall, worth reading.
After the introduction gone on to the problems of the South, electoral strategy, etc.
In all fairness, I have not yet read the book. One would think that American Sectionalism has already been played out and seen before in the 1850s. It wasn't a happy ending. Why someone would try to divide the union by geography again would be a bad thing unless the author believe that a second go around would be a good idea In today's political climate, that could well be the case.
He places this death on the eve of the 2000 election (it was in 2002) and describes the upcoming race Senator Coleman faces against prosecutor Amy Klobuchar (Coleman is up in 2008, and Klobuchar was already a declared candidate for the seat in 2006 being vacated by Mark Dayton)- On pg. For a better written version of the same book, read "The Emerging Democratic Majority" by Judis and Texeira.However, what makes this book so weak is the unacceptable number of errors. Schaller's basic thesis is not wrong, nor is it particularly original. 289, Table 7.1 lists Tom Carper as a Republican Senator- On pg. For example:- On pg. 137, Schaller describes the untimely death of Senator Wellstone. 295, Schaller claims that since 1944, only one Democratic candidate has received a majority of the popular vote, Jimmy Carter in 1976. Of course, Lyndon Johnson received 60% of the popular vote in 1964.
dismiss an entire area of the country. In a TV interview, he states the only places in the South that have any redeeming qualities have the fewest native Southerners. The man has a complex; not to mention he fails to understand our nation or the democracy that was established to govern it. The "fly-over" attitude is played out and old.
Tom Schaller's book is a must read for all Democrats. It is extremely well-written and well-reasoned. Thirty-five years from now it will be cited as the seminal work outlining how the Democrats achieved majority status in the first half of the century.
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