The Grand Alliance

Who will vote for Bush?

This is my response to the whole Dean is unelectable meme that hasn't been fully stomped out yet, and a nod to the Confederate flag flap...

As others have pointed out, the McGovern run forged the alliance of liberal intellectuals and black voters that became "identity politics", while pushing out the blue-collar white voters that became the Reagan Democrats. Moreover, the Democrats and the unions have consistently failed each other since then... union rank and file winds up voting significantly GOP, and Democrats pass laws that undermine union strength and ship jobs overseas.

It appears to me what Dean is doing is uniting the complete identity politics faction (intellectuals, blacks, gays) with the lost blue-collar voters. The Grand Alliance.

The "swing voters" are basically blue collar whites and suburban non-intellectuals, right? These are the people the GOP picks up with wedge-issue politics. If Dean can overcome the wedges, what's left for the GOP?  Basically, the rich, and the religious right - which has always been an uneasy alliance.

If Dean can pull this off and make it outlast him, he'll have a legacy as rich as FDR/Truman.