Katrina swamped the Bush GOP down here in the South, breeching the levee that held the Red resevoir in place. She stripped off the veneer of the New South like the aluminum roof of the Superdome. The South is the most self-identifying region of the country--Texas is, of course, unto itself. Southerners are Southerners first and Republicans or Democrats second.
The majority of folks, black & white, from Louisiana to the Georgia coast have some personal relationship with victims of Katrina. I haven't spoken to anyone over the past week who hasn't related a story of a cousin, friend, brother, sister, aunt, mother caught up in the nightmare of the Gulf coast. This tragedy runs deep. Its about family and kin. The neglect and failures of DHS, FEMA and the White House have triggered anger. House Speaker Hastert up in Illinois saying that maybe New Orleans should be left to the gators has Southern Republicans boiling tar for his fat ass.
There is no solid South for the GOP any longer. Support for Iraq blew away last Tuesday along with all the bullshit "family values" issues like gay marriage, creationism and the Ten Commandments. This horror and its aftermath has effectively torn Rove's big tent to pieces. It's now all about survival.