The scholars included in A Paler Shade of Red cover the 2008 presidential election with detailed, state-by-state analyses of how the presidential election, from the nomination struggle through the casting of votes in November, played out in the South. The book also includes examinations of important elections other than for president, and in addition to the single-state perspectives, there are three chapters that look at the region as a whole.
A Paler Shade of Red was developed with support from the Blair Center for Southern Politics at the University of Arkansas.
Part I – The Setting and the Nominating Process
1. The Continued Convergence of Demographics and Issues
Scott E. Buchanan
2. The 2008 Presidential Nomination Process
John A. Clark
Part II – Elections in the Deep South
3. Alabama: Electoral Continuity and Racial Voting
Patrick R. Cotter
4. Georgia: Where Competitiveness Came Late
Charles S. Bullock III
5. Louisiana: From Political Bellwether to Republican Stronghold
Robert E. Hogan and Eunice H. McCarney
6. Mississippi: Democrats Fight for Relevance in an Increasingly Republican State
David A. Breaux and Stephen D. Shaffer
7. South Carolina: A Paler Shade of Red?
Cole Blease Graham
Part III – Elections in the Rim South
8. Arkansas: He’s Not One of (Most of) Us
Jay Barth, Janine A. Parry, and Todd G. Shields
9. Florida: Obama Gives GOP the Blues
Jonathan Knuckey
10. North Carolina: Change and Continuity in 2008
Charles Prysby
11. Tennessee: Cracker Barrel Realignment
Ronald Keith Gaddie, with the assistance of Michael D. Jones
12. Texas: After the Bush Era
Brian Arbour and Mark McKenzie
13. Virginia: The New Math of Blue Virginia
John J. McGlennon
Conclusion: Don’t Whistle Past Dixie Yet
H. Gibbs Knotts
Branwell DuBose Kapeluck is an associate professor of political science at the Citadel.
Laurence W. Moreland and Robert P. Steed are professors of political science at the Citadel and editors of the Presidential Election in the South series that began in 1984 through the Citadel Project on the South.
