We all know that there is a substratum of "second-class" Democrats who consistently vote Democratic, but don't get much in return.
I'm talking about 1) African-Americans and 2) gay men and Lesbians, who know that they have to vote for the Democratic party because of the punishingly racist and gay-hating agenda of the Republicans. The Democratic party leadership can and does take their votes for granted.
The New York Times has a very interesting story about black voters in South Carolina in the online edition of it's Sunday magazine. Normally, I would not put up a diary entry that did not have some sort of original opinion content in it, but I think that this article is sufficiently important to warrant a heads up here.
I'd also enjoy reading some analysis and discussion of the topic here.