Interlude: Do Georgia Democrats have what it takes to Play Ball Again here in the Rural Red?

The fact is this: BLUECOLLAR, WHITE WORKING CLASS VOTERS is the key for the Democratic Party here in Georgia.

And to get a chunk of those voters, democrats have got to find candidates can that talk that can relate to them, someone who talk the working man's rep.

We should think about this. The blue-collar vote is huge. Skilled and semi-skilled manual jobs are on the decline, of course, but if we count as blue-collar those workers without a college degree then blue-collar voters represent the majority of voters in this state. They are the real swing vote in Georgia. "Their loyalties tend to shift from election to election and in so doing determine the winners in any political race, but here in Georgia, that have has not been the case in a couple of years

Among blue-collar voters, more men than women favor republicans, so we can ask what's going on with the men. It might seem that their pocketbooks say one thing, their votes another, but could it be that, by some good fortune, blue-collar men are actually better off than we imagine? Right now in this current economic climate, No, that can't be it!

Even if poor blue-collar men were pro-republican in general, we might at least assume that they would oppose the Georgia GOP's massive program of tax cuts to corporations & the well-to-so if they thought it favored the rich? If we did, then we'd be wrong again. So, what's going on? Should we throw out the old classic Clinton-era explanation for how we all vote: "It's the economy, stupid"? Not right away. Maybe the blue-collar man who favors that tax cut is thinking "the economy stupid" but only in the short term. He badly needs even the small amounts of money he'll get from a tax cut to repair his car or contribute to the rent. But then many working-class men labor decade after decade at difficult jobs to secure a future for their children. So if they think long term as a way of life, why are they thinking short-term when it comes to their vote?