FNS host Chris Wallace yesterday asked Senator Joe Biden (DE-D),

“What kind of a chance would a Northeastern liberal like Joe Biden stand in the South if you were running in Democratic primaries against southerners like Mark Warner and John Edwards?”

Biden responded,

“Better than anybody else. You don't know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state.”

Two quick thoughts: First, I must have missed something. What is he talking about? A statement like that is typically a preamble to an apology for slavery. Here is where I thought he was going:

“You don't know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. On behalf of the state of Delaware, I would like to formerly apologize for slavery and I join Reverend Al Sharpton to call on the all white taxpayers in the United States who had nothing to do whatsoever with that “peculiar institution’ to give their money to black people in reparations.”

Second, was his response a non-denial denial that he isn’t a “Northeastern liberal?” His state may not be – from his perspective – a Northeastern liberal state, but the question still on the table is whether he is – again from his perspective – a Northeastern liberal or a true southern man?  And what does the number of blacks living in the state of Delaware have to do with it?

Regardless of the strengths and weaknesses of Warner, Edwards or any other candidate seeking the Democratic nomination, I’ve never heard of office seekers engaging in a contest over the number of black people in their home state. Besides, does it matter? Every living black person in America – and at least a few dead ones – voted for Al Gore in 2000 and he still lost (including his home state). As for the relationship between large black populations and southern credibility, does coming from a state with many blacks make you a southerner? Do people really view Detroit and Chicago as southern cities?

Isn’t the problem Democrats have in the south is that conservative whites don’t support the policies liberals campaign on or the vote’s they’ve cast in Congress?  The fact is that white southerners don’t seem inclined to vote for Northeastern liberals. Race doesn't enter into it.

So how liberal is Biden? In a quick & dirty comparison of senators from states with loads of black people in them, it doesn’t look good for Joe. 

According to the American Conservative Union, Biden has a lifetime voting score of 14. That is not as low of a score as some true “Northeastern liberals” like Kennedy (3), Kerry (5), Schumer (6), Dodd (8) or Clinton (9), or even as low as fellow border-state Senators Sarbanes (5) and Mikulski (7), but let’s get real. Looking at six southern states with relatively more black people than Delaware – Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Carolinas – there is only one Democratic Senator, Mary Landrieu, and her lifetime score is 20. The remaining 11 Senators from these states – all Republicans – have a combined average lifetime score of 90 (a notch more conservative than Lindsey Graham).

In light of this, perhaps Biden ought to reevaluate his southern appeal and leave race out it.

JDK