"SO LONG, WHITE BOY." That's the title of our friend Tom Schaller's Salon column, in which he argues that Democrats are very close to giving up on white male "Bubba" voters in national elections, and should make the final break. Union members, Schaller points out, are the only white men still loyal to the Democratic Party -- and only by 7 points in the 2004 presidential race. Bill Clinton did not win white male voters in 1992 or 1996. The risk, Schaller writes, is that once again the Democratic nominee, after the primary, will trip him or herself up trying to woo Nascar-dads who won't ever vote for them. Remember John Kerry goose hunting? So while it's fun to ridicule Mark Penn, it's encouraging that he's focused squarely on one of the growing demographic groups crucial to Democratic success: female voters, especially single white women and women of color. --Dana Goldstein
