Increasingly Virginia -Arkansas and West Virginia may well be strongly Democratic at the state and local level, but that is largely due to the fact that the core of Democratic strength in those states is because of the New Deal generation -they are relics. In perhaps a decade, I expect Republicans to gain strength in those states much as they have done throughout the South for the past forty years.
Virginia (and perhaps North Carolina) are a different story -Democratic strength in those states is due in part to the ability of statewide Democrats to appeal to rural voters, but it is also due to the maturation of inner suburbs.
Republican strength is largely credited to the explosion of suburbia throughout the South, and has proved the core of their political might -however, as those suburbs mature and become more urban and cosmopolitan in character, they also become more moderate and Democratic. It will take decades for this process to filter down throughout the South, but it is the one hope that Democrats can cling to as they watch Republicans solidify their dominance over most southern states -it will be their salvation and main reason for any future Southern Democratic resurgence.
I forgot I ever made this post...
You get bragging rights for being so prescient, unlike many of the other posts.
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