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While I've said that there are plenty of things I dislike about the South, I can be clear that there are things I love about the South.

There's a grace about the South and a toughness about it, too.

I think we typically, as Northerners, stereotype what the South is in so many negative ways. We kind of forget all the beautiful things that they contribute to make this country a country.

I grew up in the South, so a huge part of our American History education revolved around the Civil War.

You know, I love the South.

I travel all the time, but when I come back to the South, I see such progress. In a real sense, a great deal of the South has been redeemed. People feel freer, more complete, more whole, because of what happened in the movement.

I think things like food, the food of the south is sort of the common tie that binds us all, Black and White, the sense memories. It's a very particular part of the country.

Maybe we've been brainwashed by 130 years of Yankee history, but Southern identity now has more to do with food, accents, manners, music than the Confederate past. It's something that's open to both races, a variety of ethnic groups and people who move here.

I think we Southerners have talked a fair amount of malarkey about the mystique of being Southern.

Through time and dedication, we will make it okay to be a proud Democrat in the South once again.