The role of the South in the GOP

A pair of interesting reads on the influence of the South on today's Republican Party, and the ongoing fight for its ideological soul.

First is Jim Galloway's look at the special election in New York, where uber-conservative folks are bucking the Republican candidate in favor of the Conservative Party candidate.

The next one is Andrew Sullivan's 'The Dixiefication Of The South' where he makes the following observation ...

What I take from this is pretty simple: as the GOP is now constituted, it will cease to exist in the West and the Northeast. It will struggle in the Midwest. And the base wants to reinforce these trends, buoyed by recent polls that show a slight uptick in the label "conservative."

As I have said, it will get worse before it gets better.