The Songs of the South

As both parties whistle Dixie, Democrats wait for Sam to decide

In the summer of 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to block the integration of Little Rock's Central High School, and overnight the city became a symbol of the South's estrangement from the rest of the nation. Last week, 30 years later almost to the day, Little Rock evoked a radically different image: as a symbol of the kingmaker role that the South hopes to play in the selection of the next President. Eight candidates (six Democrats and two Republicans) traveled to the Arkansas capital to address the Southern Legislative Conference, a convocation of 1,600 legislators from...

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