When a Black woman and a Jewish man ran in Oklahoma against equally vile GOP candidates in 2014, the Black woman did happen to outperform the Jewish man, contrary to the predictions of the forum. She actually overperformed both Obama and the Jewish man quite a bit in some rural counties filled with Democrats in Name Only, even though 2014 was much more favorable to the GOP than 2008 nationwide.
https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=40&year=2008&f=0&off=0&elect=0https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=40&year=2014&f=0&off=3&elect=0&class=3https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=40&year=2014&f=0&off=3&elect=0&class=2Oklahoma's Democrats In Name Only voted overwhelmingly for Bernie in its 2016 presidential primary, even though they voted for Hillary overwhelmingly in 2008, and none of them voted for Hillary in the general election (nor would they have voted for Bernie; he would have alienated them on social issues). What the candidates stand for appear to matter a lot more in Greater Appalachia than who they are. I guess that's why some places converted to
voting for McGovern by the legacy of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society campaign in 1964 (even though that campaign was all about race; it's why Deep South Whites never voted majority Democrat for President again) trended so hard against Barack Obama both times. If the Democratic Party really wants to win these places with lots of Kerry-McCain voters, it can do so with candidates of any color (does anyone think Ben Carson would have lost Louisiana?), but it must move right. Lyndon Johnson famously had a substantially more conservative voting record than JFK and was praised as a centrist in the Senate. Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp, which remain so valuable to the Senate Democratic caucus even unto this day, didn't win their states by being left-wing extremists. The Democratic Party must embrace a message of compromise and moderation, even if it means working with people who voted for Trump. It's not going to lose many more unrealistic Dems if the Dems do that, and there's absolutely no good reason why they shouldn't.
Also, Harold Ford, Jr. How could I forget Harold Ford, Jr.?
https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=47&year=2006&f=0&off=3&elect=0&class=1
