GE > I talked to a classic "Great Generation" Red-Stater about McCain the other day.

This is a man who IS well-connected in our medium-metro suburban community; what he said amounted to - You don't have to be afraid of McCain's militaristic imperialism because "the people won't let him".

Do you agree with me that this translates to: hard-line Red-Staters are going to vote for McCain and, then, the rest of the ticket Blue?

I don't see voters who vote based on Gods, Guns, and Gays breaking for Democrats. Apparently, War is not in their top three. There are deep cultural differences between the different regions of the country. If anything, a good chunk of them will simply stay home, at least the more moderate ones anyway.

Some of these are genuine fiscal conservatives who have supported a lone Blue-dog for 2 election cycles now. There's also been some new crossover candidates to the Dem column lately too, so perhaps we are a little different in this area as Red-Staters go.

The Dems who are already holding US House seats for Mississippi are firmly entrenched already. Bennie Thompson represents the predominantly minority Mississippi Delta region, and Gene Taylor represents residents in the footprint of Katrina on the coast. Of the two, Thompson is likely the most left wing on economic issues, perhaps leaning socially conservative, and Taylor is a classic right wing Democrat. They would vote him out of office for a Republican if it weren't for the fact that there is no one with the kind of name recognition that Taylor has. Then there was the recent special election of Childers, who is also a Democrat, so his seat is not in play. Very high black turnout may have accounted for the Childers victory and a very weak Republican opponent with low Repub turnout.

As for the presidential election, this state hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1976, unfortunately.

He won't stop voting Republican because to stop now would be like admitting to a mistake. He wants to say that he's been right all along, that the policies he supports haven't proven to be recipes for failure.

"The people won't let him" is just a bit of self-important strutting. He wants to believe that his opinion actually matters to his leaders somehow, or that they (even more laughably) fear him and his pistola.

that made him think they wouldn't do the whole thing all over again.