A&S in the News- February 27- March 4, 2016

  1. The South takes its place in 2016 campaign spotlight
    Associated Press – Feb. 27
    Democrats have control of just one governor’s mansion, one Senate seat and no legislative chambers from the Carolinas westward to Texas. That stretch includes five states voting in the Super Tuesday contests, a delegate-rich day that will put the South in the spotlight. . . . To Richard Fording, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama, there are similarities in the angst Nixon saw brewing in the Southern electorate a half-century ago and what Trump is tapping into now.
  2. Experts say voter anger, money fuel Trump’s rise
    Anniston Star – Feb. 27
    If Alabama voters choose outsiders on Tuesday, political scientist Jess Brown says, it won’t really be a surprise. “There’s a rage in the middle of the political spectrum,” said Brown, a former Montgomery lobbyist who now teaches at Athens State University. “It’s been bubbling up for years in the polls.” This week, that rage could boil over – or the bubble could burst. Alabama and 10 other states will go to the polls Tuesday to select presidential nominees for both parties. It’s the biggest battle yet in the 2016 race for the White House. . . . It’s a pitch that’s reminiscent of George Wallace, said William Stewart, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Alabama. Stewart said Trump seemed to have strong ability to work a crowd, but he’s still not convinced that will lead large numbers of independents and inactive voters to step up for Trump. “I don’t think the average voter knows a lot about the Republican candidates, and they may not care so much that an election is going on,” Stewart said, citing past low turnout.
  3. Shifts alter South
    Denton Record-Chronicle (Texas) – Feb. 29
    Eight years ago, Democrats were such a dominant force in Arkansas that Republicans didn’t bother putting up a candidate to challenge for a U.S. Senate seat.  Today, the state that launched the careers of generations of centrist Democrats, including Bill Clinton, has joined the rest of the South in largely turning its back on the party … Richard Fording, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama, there are similarities in the angst Nixon saw brewing in the Southern electorate a half-century ago and what Trump is tapping into now. “There is this silent majority phenomenon,” Fording said. “A lot of it has to do with race: the first black president, immigration, other threats to social and cultural values. There’s a lot of anger and it’s very satisfying for people to listen to Donald Trump.”
    Johnson City Press (Tenn.) – Feb. 29
    Blue Ridge Now (Hendersonville, N.C.) – Feb. 29

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