And the answer is ...:

In 1964, Goldwater won his home state of Arizona, plus Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

In 1948, Strom Thurmond won South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

Noticing a pattern here? I thought so. Look. I'm all for a permanent Democratic majority. I'm all for competing everywhere. But at some point a bit of pragmatism is in order. In Kos's perfect storm scenario, Democrats will control 66% of the governorships, representing over 70% of the country's population. That's quite impressive. But as long as the Democratic party stands for something, there will always be a few states that are bound to disagree. As Mark Schmitt puts it, "If you can't figure out why someone wouldn't vote for you, it's hard to figure out how to persuade them to vote for you."

Frankly, if the gay-bashing, xenophobic, government-hating branch of American politics is most concentrated in Texas and the Deep South, well, maybe we have to live with the possibility of not competing there. After all, you don't see articles or blog postings talking about the Republican's Northeast or Pacific Coast problems, despite the fact that every Senator from the Northeast Seaboard is a Democrat.