I'm an Obama supporter but as a southerner, I find it a little disturbing hearing Obama affecting a southern accent recently. Now, he does it better than a lot of professional actors, but still.

This is the state that turned against George "Macaca" Allen. I am cautiously optimistic.

By the way, Smiley, I don't think that's a "southern" accent. I think it's an African-American northern accent, which of course still has some traces of southern, but with a bit more of a northern twang. And I think Obama got it the old fashioned way, by living for years in a black community of Chicago. I don't know about you, but I find that my accent changes with the company I'm keeping. When I was talking to an older southern lady once, I amused her greatly by answering "Yes ma'am" a couple of times, but I really was not doing it to immitate her accent or dialect, it just popped out because it seemed like the right wa to address her. When Obama is speaking to an all- or partly African American crowd, the accent probably gravitates toward his Chicago neighborhood.

Gotta admit, this has to be one of the most foolish and petty ideas I've heard thrown out lately.

That being said, yeah, if Obama had said that about southerners, we would now be hearing about how it was okay to burn crosses (at the very least) on the lawns of his campaign hqs.

Must be great to be a Republican. All those special unwritten rules, exempting you from all rules connected to human decency, good manners, intellectual rigor and/or consistency, veracity...awww this list is getting too long. Shorter version, IOKIYAR has been upgraded to AGIYAR (Anything Goes if You're a Republican). Ride 'em cowboy!

What? Are those the only states in the south where people have a grasp of the issues? Can somebody,anybody explain to me why this election seems to be remotely close. The republicans have been in control of the senate and congress for 12 of the last 14 years. They have fought tooth and nail to bog the govt down in a morass of inefficiency for the last 2 years.
The list of complete ineptitude of the executive branch under Bush boggles the mind. And let's throw in the lying to start a war,the numerous evil machinations and downright illegal actions taken by these criminals.
Maybe it's the same level of awareness that people had 600 years ago when the vast majority beleived the world was flat. I don't know someone please explain to me why a whole country basically says keep fucking me over I like it.

Here is what Gramm said in 1993:

"I want to predict here tonight," he said on the evening that Clinton's budget passed in the spring of 1993, "that if we adopt this bill the American economy is going to get weaker and not stronger, the deficit four years from today will be higher than it is today and not lower ... When all is said and done, people will pay more taxes, the economy will create fewer jobs, the government will spend more money, and the American people will be worse off."

Read the entire article by Joe Conason at Salon. It's an older one, dated back to May 30 2008.

Obviously, the exact opposite happened at the end of Bill Clinton's presidency.

It is amazing to see Gramm's penchant for deregulation, which caused Savings & Loan collapse, the Enron debacle, the housing crisis and now the financial crisis. The entire time McCain is in full support.

By the way, Smiley, I don't think that's a "southern" accent. I think it's an African-American northern accent

I considered that, T-Rex. However, I think it comes across to most people as a southern accent. Because he doesn't talk that way all the time, I think it's still an affectation. FWIW, I said it was a "little disturbing." Maybe that's overstating my feelings about it because I really don't have a huge problem with it.

Smiley, it's part human instinct and part salesmanship. See, when you have the same accent, or pretty close, to someone else, there is an automatic bond of trust formed, people just can't help but like you more if you sound like them. All humans do it to some extent, and the best salesmen will automatically mimic with near perfect accuracy the accent of whoever they're talking to.

Two traveling companions named Gra[h]a[m]m

Ack, sounds like a human Gramm-McCain-Graham sandwich.

Brain Bleach!

...people just can't help but like you more if you sound like them...

Wow.. Now I understand why people tend to like me less: It must by my foreign accent. I'm doomed to 'never' have any friends.

Just joking around with the above comment. I wonder if people are really that shallow, then it is no wonder why our country is so divided.

What in blazes ever happened to the idea of running for "President of the UNITED STATES?" Is Obama trying to give people a reason to vote for McCain? This election isn't supposed to be about fighting the fights we can win; it's supposed to be about fighting the fights that are worth fighting---and if Obama wants to write people off, just because of where they live, then I suppose he doesn't need that piece of advertising that's out in my front yard, either. I'll vote for him, but there's going to be one less Obama/Biden sign in Ohio.

Steve @ 12:27
I'm not sure you accurately read Steve Benen's article. Obama did not say he couldn't understand southerners. That was Steve's suggestion to sarcastically refer to McCain's earlier statement. Try not to post with a hair-trigger.

Steve you are dumber than a rock. The ecomment you just made is one of the reasons I'm moving out of the state of Ohio or should I say the state of douchebags.

to steve @ 12:27PM

Obama IS running for POTUS. the same can not be said about McCain. I suggest you meditate a bit, take some deep breaths and order an additional sign from the Obama campaign to add to your lawn.

No need to get petty about little things, you might be confused with a Republican. Imagine that.

The funny thing about the suggestion for translators is that a good number of people in Charlotte sometimes wish they had translators for the NC natives due to the big migration from outside the region because of the banking industry. I can say this since I am a native North Carolinian and lived in Charlotte for a while. Now if he were to go maybe an hour outside of Charlotte that line about hearing Southerners loud and clear and the need/no need for translators might play better. But the larger point is that making a big deal about a comment McCain made 8 months ago falls dangerously close to the small things trap that Obama cautioned against in his acceptance speech. If McCain had been railing against it for months and said something equally stupid in the past week or so, then maybe you could use it in the stump speech. But as we say down here, we got bigger fish to fry.

Besides, having a non-Southerner highlight the fact that Southerners have an accent might just backfire. When my Ohio in-laws say that I have a thick accent, I think (and sometimes say), look who's talking! I know its in jest but I'm reminded of what Lewis Grizzard (southern humorist in the 1980s & 90s) said about accents: "Yankees think we talk funny. God talks like we do."

Steve Benen: Except in a narrow geographic sense, Florida is NOT a southern state. It's generally not considered one when discussed by pollsters and pundits.

As for somebody else's question about why these are the three competitive states?

They're the three with the biggest Yankee influx.

Geez, that was simple.

This is the state that turned against George "Macaca" Allen. -- T-Rex, @11:47

Um... Nope, it ain't. Charlotte is in NC; Allen exposed his inner macaca in VA. You're probably thinking of Charlottesville.

Northern Florida is most assuredly a Southern state culturally as well as geographically. Outside Naples, Palm Beach, Orlando and Miami and Florida is very southern.