A thriving economy is the greatest such factor known in American politics. The new economy has led all Americans to treat education as the key to upward social mobility. Johnny Hodges in South Carolina and Don Siegelman of Alabama, both Democrats, won shockingly easy victories in two of the most conservative states in the Union last election, waging practically identical single-issue campaigns for governor. Their promise was to create a state lottery fund wholly dedicated to education. For Republicans, the biggest problem with the South's economic success may in fact be the South's economic success.
Sprawl is more of a problem in the South than anywhere else.
The region has grown so quickly that it defies planning. Ayres thinks voters trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle the issue. But it's Democrats who are talking about it. Just as interesting is the way Gore is handling sprawl. But he is trumpeting it loudly in supposedly right-wing metropolitan Atlanta.