I really don't understand how MS Dems can't scrounge together a candidate who can squeak out a win more or less running as an old school Southern Democrat. With such a large Black population, all he'd need to do is win like 30% of Whites, right? There's no way a coalition of old Dixiecrats who are about to die plus some poor Whites can't get near 30%...
Generally the only way to attract those extra 20% of whites to the Democratic Party again would be moving heavily to the right, which would in turn decrease black turnout. That wouldn't even be enough, because if you want a conservative governor, why not just vote Republican? It would require a Republican candidate that was bad enough that people want an alternative.
Right, but most non-biased people could agree that the old Dixiecrats were only really conservatives compared to the national Democratic Party; they certainly weren't as conservative, especially on fiscal issues, as the current crop of Southern Republicans are. I question whether a socially conservative, fiscally moderate-to-populist Southern Democrat would decrease Black turnout that much, but I'd need someone more well-versed in local MS politics to correct me if I'm wrong. It literally worked for decades.
