When Tom Murphy, the speaker of the Georgia House, helped invent the Southern regional primary, his purpose was clear: "To bring the Democratic Party back to the mainstream of Southern thinking." With probably 15 Southern and border states selecting about 30% of the 1988 convention delegates during the week of March 8, the field seemed tailored for a moderate Democrat who could tell the difference between kudzu and ivy. But likely Southern entries retreated from the fray: Arkansas Senator Dale Bumpers and former Virginia Governor Charles Robb declared themselves out, and Georgia Senator Sam Nunn has temporized.
But politics abhors a...
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