This post, along with earlier entries here, here and here, will be part of ongoing analysis we'll be doing at Facing South about the 2006 elections and the South. Stay tuned for more.

The Democratic and progressive South-bashers are at it again.

In the wake of the 2006 mid-terms, a host of Democrats and progressives are once again saying that it's time to write off the South. Throw out Howard Dean's 50-state strategy, they say, especially in those backwards, southwards states. The November elections prove that the North is the Democrats' base, and the Midwest and West are the only direction in the Democrats' future.

Nonsense.

At Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies, we've long been interested in the billions of dollars flowing to private military contractors. Halliburton, Custer Battles, and many other notorious contractors are based in the South, and the region as a whole is disproportionately dependent on military dollars for its economic well-being.

The issue of war profiteering is a common-sense issue that brings together many of the things wrong with the current administration: war, cronyism, fiscal irresponsibility, and the contrast between soldiers making sacrifices for their country while corporations get rich off war.

So it's encouraging to see that the Democratic Policy Committee is holding a Congressional hearing this coming Monday on the issue, with what promise to be some very illuminating testimonials:

STATES HEIGHTEN OBSTACLES TO VOTING

Facing South

Last week, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) signed into law a measure requiring voters to show photo identification before voting. The move was part of a growing trend among states to erect another barrier to voting; lawmakers have introduced such legislation in 25 states, with the legislatures of Indiana and Wisconsin passing similar bills this spring.

The latest on Southern strategy this morning from Facing South: