There are two interesting articles in yesterday’s and today’s The Los Angeles Times (registration required) reflecting on the state of the Democratic Party. The one by Kevin Phillips is--characteristically--odd, yet worth reading. He thinks it a very bad sign that blacks, Latinos, and poorer whites did not vote in the numbers the Demos have come to rely on. The other is by Jack Pitney at Claremont and his point is even simpler: The Democrats can only win the White House with a candidate from the South, i.e., Gore or Edwards; the last non-Southern Demo to become president was JFK. And, it should be noted that John Kerry of Massachusetts has taken the first steps toward announcing his candidacy.