Conservative columnist Fred Barnes wrote an op-ed in last week's Wall Street Journal gleefully burying the Democrats' future electoral prospects because of the party's increasingly poor showing with Latino, Jewish, women, suburban and rural voters.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006099 As many have pointed out, the Republicans' gains have come primarily from their gains in the south (and, to a lesser extent, the mountain states and upper midwest). Outside of the south and these few non-southern Republican bastions, the Democrats were more than competitive and actually made gains in a number of states that Bush won (e.g. Colorado and Montana).
Unfortunately for the Democrats, the South is the fastest growing region of the country. This means that the South will be gaining electoral votes in the future, while reliable Democratic bastions like New York will be losing influence.
It's thus critical for the Democrats to regain their competitive footing in the South. How to do it? By emphasizing our commitment to national defense. Nothing turns off southerners more than the effete dovish tone of many of the Democratic hard left who view every foreign policy challenge through the prism of Vietnam. Jimmy Carter and, especially, Bill Clinton understood this. Our candidate doesn't need a fistful of medals and ribbons or a stellar military record (Reagan and Bush were certainly lacking on that score). What he or she needs is basic hard-nosed credibility. If our candidate can pass the credibility test, they'll be competitive. If not, they'll join Dukakis, Mondale, McGovern, and Kerry in the losers' circle.