What did Hood (MS), Maddox (AL), Dean (TN), do wrong in their bids?

[Fuzzy Bear Loves Christian Missionaries]

MS, AL, and TN are structurally Republican, all the way down to local offices nowadays.  This is a fundamental change from the bifurcated politics that made these states Republican at the Presidential level (except when a non-liberal Southerner ran) but Democratic at the state and local level.

The 1994 elections began the long march to where every Southern legislative chamber has become Republican.  The only statewide elected Democrat are in VA (a unique case), FL (only one), and NC (the Governor).  Nothing in "swing state" GA. Nothing in TX.  Why Edwards should be an underdog ought to be obvious. 

It wasn't always this way.  Edwin Edwards crushed David Treen in his 1983 comeback, on the heels of a Reagan landslide.  John Kennedy was a Democrat until 2005.  What has happened is that Louisiana is an oil state and the National Democratic Party has taken an unabashed stance against the Fossil Fuel industry.  How hard is this to figure out?