When I got my first job back in 1980 on Capitol Hill, there was still a pretty good chunk of southern Democrats in the Congress. Not after last week's elections.
Yes, some of them retired, like Rep. Marion Berry (D-AR) or Rep. Gordon and Tanner from Tennessee.
But most of them were defeated last Tuesday, as Boyd (FL), Bright (AL), Childers (MS), Marshall (GA), Nye (VA), and Taylor (MS) all failed to win re-election.
It doesn't leave many white, "Southern Democrats" - what were called "Boll Weevils" when I was a kid, and are now referred to as Blue Dogs.
Yes, there are Democrats from the South in urban districts. But they aren't the prototypical Southern Democrat of old in the Congress.
I remember visiting the Capitol one time with my mom and sister, when we ran into Sen. Sam Ervin (D-NC), who had become a national sensation in the wake of the Watergate hearings.
Names like Ervin, Hollings, Nunn, Ford, Stennis, Eastland, Sparkman, Heflin, Bumpers, Fulbright, Long, Breaux, Johnston and more were stalwarts of the Senate.
But now, Democrats are more of an oddity in the South. In the Senate, there's Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Bill Nelson of Florida.
Just as Republicans no longer have many lawmakers in New England, Democrats now are in short supply in the South.
But they aren't going quietly into the Legislative Night.
Last week, several Blue Dogs in the House loudly objected to the plan of Speaker Nancy Pelosi to run Democratic Leader as their party goes into the minority next year in the House.
"I cannot in good conscience support Nancy Pelosi as Leader," said Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK). "I intend to support a more conservative Democrat alternative."
Another Blue Dog, Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, vowed to run against Speaker for the post of Minority Leader.
In the last four years, the Blue Dogs had been an important coalition in the Democratic majority in the House, providing some key votes, even as some of them refused to support health care reform and other more liberal initiatives.
But after last week's elections, their threats to oppose Pelosi seemed a bit hollow, simply because there aren't many Blue Dogs left, and there aren't many in the South at all.
Jim Cooper of Tennessee is still there. Shuler of North Carolina. John Barrow of Georgia. Mike Ross of Arkansas.
And that's it from the South in terms of the white, Southern Democrat, as this election has made the Democratic Caucus in the House a much more liberal group.
It's a distinct change in the Congress, 150 years after the Election of 1860, which set in motion a series of political changes that are finally washing off the tableau of American politics in the South.
When I got my first job back in 1980 on Capitol Hill, there was still a pretty good chunk of southern Democrats in the Congress. Not after last week's elections. Yes, some of them retired, like Rep. Marion Berry (D-AR) or Rep. Gordon and Tanner from Tennessee. But most of ...
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