I think you're stuck in the past here; boll weevils were transition creatures from before the South became Republican. John Edwards is probably the most progressive candidate the Dems have to offer and Gore is
[WS:] Yeah, that crossed my mind too as soon as I hit the sent button, but then on a second thought, his approach to environment and energy issues are well, more southern-rural than northern-urban i.e. more efficient cars and cleaner coal, instead of more efficient land use and more transit.
Seriously, environment/ energy/ land use and heath care are the only two issues that I really take seriously in political rhetoric, everything else are just buzzwords. The war, horrible as it is, is now beyond a political solution. That is no politician can withdraw troops from Iraq without committing a political suicide. This is the tribute that the empire extracts from domestic politics since the Civil War - no politician has much choice but to keep it intact by any means necessary or be swept aside if not assassinated. And of course, everyone supports the families &the middle class, loves America & its leading role, wants to end poverty, and for that matter, is for all the good things and against all the bad things.
So from that point of view, Obama seems to have more to say on these two issues than Edwards, no? (and Hillary does not seem to be saying much on these issue at all).
Wojtek