Tom Schaller

Tomorrow night, March 20 at 7p.m., at Wake Forest University Tom Schaller will debate Bob Moser on the question of the Democratic Party's strategy towards the South. The debate will be held in Room 1312 of the Worrell Professional Center and respondents include yours truly and Delmas Parker, second vice chair of the NC Democratic Party, along with David Coates, politics professor at Wake Forest.

This debate's genesis was a work of BlueNC and the blogosphere in more ways than one. Read the rest for more on the debate and on the blogosphere's role.

Nationally, one of the hottest topics in progressive politics is whether or not the Democratic Party should consider the South a lost cause.

Thirty years ago that subject would have been considered absurd on its face. Back then the South was the indispensable partner in Roosevelt's New Deal coalition. The South was the lynch pin, the hinge, the fulcrum of Democratic power. Now some believe that it is the great nemesis of the Democratic Party, and chasing after the South is about as useful, and ennobling, as calling your ex-wife and asking her for a date.

This argument has both its advocates, and its critics throughout the progressive movement. Howard Dean has staked tremendous political capital on his "50 State Strategy" and the contention that a truly national party must compete everywhere. Other influential leaders in the party, like Rahm Emmanuel, would argue that spending fifty cents on grass roots organizing in Mississippi is fifty cents wasted.