I'm watching Bernie on This Week with George Stephanopolous. He made the following statement:

[Arkansas Granny]

" Well, she's getting more votes. A lot of that came from the South"

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-sen-bernie-sanders/story?id=38277617

Just what is that supposed to mean? Do votes from the South not matter?

[Broward]

1. Stir it up, nt.

[artislife]

25. It is like there is a break down in the synapses.

It reminds me of reading the posts in a Yahoo News article. The depth of critical thinking would fit in a teaspoon.

[Adrahil]

30. OK, then, what did he mean by that?

Was it just a throw-away, meaningless line?

Let's hear your in-depth analysis.

[artislife]

39. Means that most of her votes came early in the South

His are later and in the West and Midwest.


Thanks for proving the size of the spoon.

[Dragonfli]

42. Southern voters tend to be more Conservative, that's why we get DINOs there all the time

Or more honest Republicans that actually register in their own party rather that ours, usually we get the latter and seldom does the south help us in the General election, like almost never seldom.

I wish people with more political knowledge posted here, it saves time not having to give electoral politics 101 lessons all the time. That being said, I still don't mind educating you.

[Henhouse]

105. Cringe...Sander's support calling southern voters DINOs...the irony...n/ter

[Dragonfli]

113. No, not the voters but many of those running for office in red states, you hadn't noticed that?

It has even been lectured here by many that the only way to win in a red state is by being more "blue dog" Conservative on the issues. Such explanations are usually given in a Condescending manner by Conservative Democrats themselves while defending certain politicians that have blocked Democratic bills put forth by Obama in the Senate or during similar instances when long time Democrats like me get frustrated by Dem on Dem obstruction of liberal legislation.

It is considered not only impolite, but misleading to put your own words in the mouths of others. Please stop.

I merely pointed out the fact that southerners tend to vote more Conservative, I do not think this is unknown or contradicted by many that follows US politics. If the truth makes you feel uncomfortable, then perhaps you also tend to vote more conservatively and have thus become defensive, that is only a guess but if true, please don't take it personally, it was not aimed at you personally, it was merely a statement of fact regarding the general voting habits in a certain region. I would also add that no region or group is monolithic and there are some "more liberal" Democrats that vote in that region as well, simply not as many.

[Surya Gayatri]

37. Yes, it DOES appear that Sanders has been having trouble

staying on message and not putting his foot in his proverbial political mouth.

Perhaps he's feeling the mental strain and fatigue.

[enid602]

56. Wall St.

Historically, his message has been heavily anti-Wall St and the business model of capitalism is greed. Not the best message to take to New York and surrounding states.

[Surya Gayatri]

64. Wonder if he'll tone it down a bit in the coming days,

or if he'll just go on spouting his one-note refrain?

[merrily]

72. Sorry, that statement was very much on message for the Sanders campaign.

[Fawke Em]

98. He's correct here, though.

I'm a Southerner. I know my state will never vote for the Queen in the general. End of story.

[Sheepshank]

44. Sanders should take care not to verbalize a marginalization of Southern States

Especially When he knows full well, the black vote was pivotal in those Southern States. His tone deaf messaging continues, and the AA community in the rest of the nation will feel that same sting he just inflicted on the southern POC voter.

[hollowdweller]

60. I don't think he's marginalizing them.

I think he's stating the facts.

Hillary is sort of a Southerner, having lived in Arkansas.

Dems don't do that well in the South but Clinton did for the same reason.

Sanders is a yankee with a NY accent, sort of like Kerry was.

[imagine2015]

66. Does Hillary marginalize Utah? She didn't campaign in Utah primary nor did Obama in 2008 GE

[Sheepshank]

76. I live in Utah

It's not insulting at all given the very small number of delegates to be awarded, the strong support and numbers favoring Bernie. Add to that the unnecessary cost to fund a losing state and realizing that in the GE, Utah is as bright red as they get. Nope not offended at all at that decision.

[Jitter65]

99. Smart campaign management, nt

[reformist2]

2. When it comes to electoral college math, they kind of don't matter. Sorry.

Just like my vote in Massachusetts doesn't usually matter, since the state almost always goes Dem no matter what.

[notadmblnd]

10. So you vote other than Democrat?

nt

[CorporatistNation]

34. Yes, YOUR SIMPLE CONCISE Answer Is The Only Reasonable Response... The Rest Is NONSENSE!

[merrily]

70. Don't matter to Democrats because they go Republican in the general.

[Henhouse]

93. Like I said...tell that to my Congressman, Jim Clyburn...n/t

[merrily]

94. Remind me: In which Presidential general election did Clyburn get the state's electoral votes?

[Henhouse]

97. Nevermind....I follow all the elections...not just the one every four years...N/t

[merrily]

106. Please see Reply 102 and, again, please do try to focus.

[dsc]

82. Obama won VA and FL twice and NC once

he won 42 EV in 2012 and 57 in 2008. Meaning he won about 15% of his EV there in 2012 and close to 20% in 08.

[Lucinda]

3. Evidently not! n/t

[MoonRiver]

4. Pandering to New York. As has been mentioned here before,

Bernie is first and foremost a POLITICIAN.

[notadmblnd]

13. Please explain to me how that comment is pandering.

Be specific now.

[oasis]

55. Subtle dig at the "low information confederate states". nt

[MoonRiver]

67. That too.

As a transplant from TX to the Midwest I can attest to the fact that we Southerners are not all low information voters. For instance, in my immediate family we had/have: one M.D., 5 Ph.Ds, 2 Masters degrees, and 2 Bachelors degrees (the latter have always been embarrassed about their "lack of education.&quot

[merrily]

74. Baloney. Southern states go Republican in the general is the point.

[Henhouse]

95. Are you for real....There's a lot more than the presidential election at stake...

I wish I remembered who said it but some Sanders supporters act like this election is a Coachcello that happens every four years.

[merrily]

102. Please focus: The thread is about Presidential candidates in a Presidential primary.

The question is what Presidential candidate Bernie meant by specifying that the Presidential primaries won by Presidential candidate Hillary were all in the South. My answer was about Presidential electoral votes, which was on topic. No clue why you think the subject of this thread is Clyburn's Congressional district or anyone's Congressional district or elections in general. Oh, and my ability to remember the subject of the OP and to post replies on topic says nothing negative about me or any other Sanders supporter.

[Henhouse]

107. Actually it is about Sander's dismissing southern votes...which..

will effect down ticket candidates if he wins the primary....To think otherwise is incredibly narcissistic...but hey that defines Bernie.

[merrily]

111. ACTUALLY, he specified that Hillary's Presidential primary wins were in Southern States and the OP

asked the meaning of that comment. The meaning of his comment is what the thread is about. Can't help it if some Hillary supporters totally twisted, as usual missed the meaning of Bernie;s comment, but the thread is about his comment. And his comment was, OF COURSE, not about dismissing all Southern votes. This is a man who thinks voting is so important that he wants it to be a day off from work. He's not going to dismiss votes. Get a clue.

[Fawke Em]

104. Um... theres's what? Three Senate Democrats from the South?

And maybe a handful of Congresspeople? All of whom are from majority-minority districts.

We're basically red, period. I know this. I'm a Southerner.

[BeyondGeography]

5. He obviously sees merit in continuing to drop that in

There isn't any. By the way, Hillary can relate; getting blown out of the South is how she lost last time. And Barack Obama's GE prospects weren't compromised in the least by the importance that the South played in the nomination contest.

[virtualobserver]

6. What it means is that voting in the south is over.... Bernie is doing well in the rest of the states

It means that Bernie can win.

[Perogie]

7. It means a lot of votes came from the south

Pretty simple, unless you are trying to make it mean something else.

Can you read Bernie's mind and know exactly what he meant or are you trying to make it sound like Bernie hates the south.

[Ferd Berfel]

73. Is it possible that these are the states that are going R in the GE anyway?

George Snuffallotofus is just another over paid corporate puppet

[Autumn]

8. What that means is she's getting

more votes, a lot of those votes came from the South. Yes, obviously all votes matter. What do you want it to mean?

[GeorgeGist]

9. Context would be helpful.

Well, she's getting more votes. A lot of that came from the South.

But if you look at the polling out there, we do a lot better against Trump and the other Republicans in almost every instance -- not every one -- than she does. And the reason is that we both get a lot of Democrats, but I get a lot more Independents than she does.

[Vinca]

11. It means she's getting more votes. Period.

If you're going to create another faux issue, we can wonder why Hillary is alienating the northern states.

[artislife]

26. The West is lost to her, if we are going to go even further.

[EndElectoral]

12. I think it means those votes from the south won't help as we lose those states in the GE anyway.

Electorally, that's been the case overall since the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed.

[msanthrope]

14. It means he's trying...desperately..to divide Democrats. nt

[PowerToThePeople]

21. You mean you think he is now doing

what team Hillary has been doing from get go?

[think]

28. And Hillary is bringing in the neocons. Robert Kagan already endorsed her. What next?

[DrDan]

59. I think this is it exactly - link the South to Hillary - and the Union, er, I mean the North to him

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. It means she pulled ahead early and that those votes came from the South.

[Henhouse]

16. Well he doesn't mean red states because he counts those votes. Must mean AA votes n/t

[artislife]

36. Hateful. nt

[IamMab]

17. He also said "Fracking" and then went off about the minimum wage.

He can't even keep track of his own talking points any more. Sad, really.

[djean111]

24. Yes, because is supposedly is a one-issue guy, right? Wrong.

[northernsouthern]

18. Hey...please stop.

I am from the south, from your state too, any you well know our racists state has a history of Red...
http://www.270towin.com/states/Arkansas

If you look at the chart you can see very oddly the votes for Dems dropped off around the time of the Dixiecrats leaving the party in 1948. It continued down until we became red. Billy won twice...but as of now Arkansas is as Red as the HRC camp wants to paint Sanders.

How odd Obama lost by so much each time? 58.72 for McCain and 60.7% to Mitt? Only support along the the delta? How very odd? I wonder why? I know plenty of people in Arkansas that did not vote for him...something about they were afraid the south would not vote for a black man.

It also may have to do with the south distrusting the North since Carter won the South one election? But please put your specter of the south doesn't matter back in the closet with all the bad sh@t our state did in its past.

BTW did your Arkansas school have the trail of tears running through it too? Ours did, I wonder if that was a good trail? Could you remind me, why were people crying on it? Was it because they were so happy to be in Arkansas a place where their vote would count?

[Arkansas Granny]

23. My point is this. It is unlikely that either of the Democratic candidates would be able to win the

southern states in the GE. However, to point out that much of Hillary's support comes from those southern states sounds to me that Bernie thinks those voters are unimportant in selecting the Democratic nominee.

BTW, I don't see where you trail of tears comment has anything to do with this conversation.

[northernsouthern]

47. Bernie thinks they are, but knows they have already voted

southern states in the GE. However, to point out that much of Hillary's support comes from those southern states sounds to me that Bernie thinks those voters are unimportant in selecting the Democratic nominee.

It is the very opposite, the southern vote went first and fast, they created a narrative of Hillary and anyone that pointed out that the south does not support the Dems in the general election and the north had yet to vote was labeled a racist. They had in fact made it so their voice didn't count. Also did you vote for Obama in both elections and in the primaries? How well did that work? How important was your vote? It is your right to get offended by what ever you like. I for one am offended by people creating a narrative about this to call us racist. I know plenty of racists, they are all over, but I sure found them quite quickly when I was in the south...some just a branch or two away in the old family tree.

BTW, I don't see where you trail of tears comment has anything to do with this conversation.

You ask why does it matter? Well I am pretty sure the Native American vote in Arkansas does not matter, why? Because we removed them all, I went to a school knowing that people died under our soil being forced to walk from as far as (well they got a boat part of the way) Florida.

Most Native Americans were forced to leave Arkansas during the Indian Removals of the 1800's. These tribes are not extinct, but except for the descendants of Arkansas Indians who escaped from Removal, they do not live in Arkansas anymore. They were moved to Indian reservations in Oklahoma instead. If you click on the link for each tribe above, you can find more information about them.

Where did they end up? Oklahoma...which voted for Bernie.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/2/1494912/-Bernie-won-the-non-black-PoC-of-Oklahoma-vote-55-39

I include this because of the narrative you seem to be trying to spread about the southern vote mot mattering to equate with racism. I am tired of it, He was our governor for 10 years or so, during his run all the black people in our town lived in one little government housing project that had been there for a long time, right below a confederate cemetery. We went to the high-school in Little Rock a few times, it had metal prison bars on all of it's windows, it had a walled in field. Helena looked so painfully poor, it was like nothing had changed. When people try and paint this narrative about the south they are glossing over much of the horribleness that is there in parts. They make it look like a horrible old white jew from the north is repressing the free south. News flash, the south ain't free, it still suffers under the ghost of its past. In fact the amount of anti-antisemitism I grew up under, the religious pamphlets with the horrible drawings of jews that were handed out in my school bus by fellow students. This is digressing a bit but I love the fact that the guy that discovered the cause for Pellagra in the south was scoffed at because he was Jewish...too bad they did not listen to him because he was right...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goldberger

[thesquanderer]

65. "sounds to me that Bernie thinks those voters are unimportant in selecting the Democratic nominee" -

- sounds to me like your own wishfully negative interpretation. Why not Post #6's "What it means is that voting in the south is over.... Bernie is doing well in the rest of the states" and similarly Post #15's "It means she pulled ahead early and that those votes came from the South."

The fact is, most of her strongest support comes from one region of the country. Bernie's support is much more broad. One can make that point without being dismissive of southerners.

[TheSarcastinator]

19. OF COURSE HE MEANT "THE SOUTH DOESN'T COUNT"!!!

I mean, how else could you interpret "A lot of that came from the South" other than complete disgust and disregard for every American who happens to live south of the Mason-Dixon line??? There's just no other interpretation that makes any sense! I'm series!!1!1!111!

[srobert]

54. If It Weren't For Your Name ...

I was going to respond until I noticed your screen name. LOL.

[Bjornsdotter]

79. Well played!

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. people in the south matter

Their votes, at least in a general election... Not so much.

[rufus dog]

22. Well the U.S. Is broken into multiple regions

NorthEast, Mid Atlantic, MidWest, Mountain West, West, etc.

The South is the region across the lower U.S. from Louisiana through the Florida Panhandle.

Bernie is saying that Hillary won these States in the early primaries and ran up the vote count.

It is really that simple, a politician giving a reason for why he has fewer votes.

[NWCorona]

27. Some people are gonna hear what they want.

[Silver_Witch]

29. Here I will help since you asked!

Hillary Clinton has gotten a lot of votes. Many of the primaries and caucuses she has won thus far were in Southern States. Hillary has not won as many of late althought she is still getting some wins. Hillary is strong in southern states. Bernie seem a bit stronger in the mid-western states and we have yet to see who will carry the eastern states or west coast

There is that a bit easier to understand????

Have a nice Sunday!

[Scuba]

31. Nicely done.

[KingFlorez]

32. He sounded angry and was talking very fast

It was like listening to someone off of DU talk in an interview.

[Surya Gayatri]

43. Quoting some of the posts in GeeDeePee! LOL!

[srobert]

58. Fast Talking Yankees

People in the South talk more slowly. Bernie always sounds angry (because he is). Perhaps he's talking too fast for many southerners to get the gist of what it is he's angry about. If they knew what he was angry about they would vote for him.

[Surya Gayatri]

33. He just can't help himself. Open mouth, insert foot...

Seems to be a daily occurence now.



He's gone badly off message. Get his handlers to reign him in.

Calling Jane, calling Jane...

[Lint Head]

35. It's understandable that non progressive votes would come from the South.

[B Calm]

38. It means you are making a mountain out of a mole hill to coverup Bill Clinton.

[Jackilope]

40. He isn't a Clinton, so you don't need to read more into it.

Perhaps all the little innuendo from Clinton-speak is automatic to question what the opposition says.

[Armstead]

51. Good point...We've become used to candidates who never speak directly as humans

Some people don't know how to "interpret" someone who says what he thinks.

[LWolf]

41. No.

If he thought they didn't matter, he wouldn't have campaigned there.

I'm not sure why you'd come to that erroneous conclusion. He stated 2 facts: 1. She's got more votes so far. 2. She got many of them in the South.

These things are true. Why do you feel you need to spin them to mean something more, or something different?

[PufPuf23]

50. Thank you for this clear post. eom

[99Forever]

45. It's a secret code only actual progressives can understand.

DINOs, neoliberals, neocons, and Rethuglicans have no clue what it means.

[FourScore]

46. It means she's got more votes, and a lot of it came from the South. n/t

[bigtree]

48. dissing the majority of black voters there

...but, crime bill.

[PufPuf23]

52. You are delusional or dishonest.

How about that Bill Clinton?

[MoonRiver]

69. How about Bernie, who VOTED FOR that crime bill?

[Armstead]

49. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

He was asked about Clinton's lead. He replied that much of it came from the South.

That is just the "math."


He has stated elsewhere that they knew Clinton had an inherent advantage in the south, and his campaign had to set priorities during periods where there were simultaneous primaries. They focused on the states where he had a better chance. A pragmatic decision.

Any other hidden meanings or secret racist code is solely in your own mind.

[SHRED]

53. Well said

[Myrina]

89. +100

nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

57. Seems like a pretty straightforward statement. And a true one.

He wasn't trying to say southern votes don't matter, but simply that although Hillary has done well in the southern states, those primaries are over. In other words he expects to do better in the remaining elections. Don't read into it something that isn't there.

[Hiraeth]

61. Name recognition. She had it. In those states voting early. Momentum. Bernie has it now.

Going forward and moving on .... meanwhile ....

[imagine2015]

62. It means Obama could not carry the south in the GE and Hillary won't if she captures the nomination.

You think she can do better than Obama among Black voters in the solid Republican south?

[jcgoldie]

63. "She's getting more votes..."

"...from black people." It just doesn't sound as good.

[jcgoldie]

84. uhm

Pretty sure we're on the same side. My point was that Sanders supporters are fond of pointing out that he inspires certain demographics that democrats will need to get to the polls in November such as young people. Then they make reference to her victories in southern states as somehow related to the 150 year gone confederacy, implying these states are more conservative and won't vote democrat in the GE anyway so those wins somehow mean less. Leaving aside the fact that most of the mountain west where most of his recent caucus wins have taken place will also be red in November, the reason her lead is nearly insurmountable at this point is not because she won in the south. It's because she won by huge margins in the south making it very difficult for him to counter those margins even if he can rack up wins in the west and northeast. The basis of those roughly 70-30 margins is that she's winning with people of color by tremendous percentages and there are a lot of them in those places. Of course minorities are just as important for democrats to inspire in November as young people or independents, but it somehow obscures this dynamic by calling them the confederacy or saying she only wins in "the south".

[MoonRiver]

101. Sorry, I need to read posts a little more carefully. You are spot on!

[merrily]

68. Southern states are unlikely to go Democratic in the general. That's been posted here for weeks.

[jcgoldie]

86. Neither will...

Wyoming, or Idaho, or Oklahoma, or Nebraska, or Kansas, or Utah, or Alaska.

On the other hand, Florida and Ohio and Virginia could be sorta important.

[merrily]

87. I haven't checked lately, but Bernie won by a large margin over Trump in Utah in one poll and

I have not seen polls for the other states you named. Also, you seem to have left out New Hampshire, which is also purple state.

[jcgoldie]

90. Pretty sure comparing primary vote totals between the 2 parties is meaningless

Hillary beat Trump by a wide margin in Georgia for example. Doesn't make it any more likely to flip in November, although recent trends suggest it will be closer than Utah.

[merrily]

91. Maybe, maybe not. But, before November, head to head polls are the only predictors we have.

But, what is your point here? The OP is about the meaning of the comment Bernie made about the Southern states and we seem now to be pretty far off that topic.

[jcgoldie]

108. this has nothing to do with head to head polls

You were comparing the relative support for Trump and Sanders in the Utah caucus. Turnout in the primaries and caucuses on either side is what has been shown to be meaningless. We'd better hope that's the case whether we are for Clinton or Sanders because GOP turnout this spring has been up. It's a reflection of how competitive the race is not who will win in the fall. And if you think Utah will turn blue for Sanders there's some oceanfront property for you there as well.

[merrily]

112. ? A primary poll comparing a Republican with a Democrat is often referred to as a head to head poll.

That kind of poll is what my prior posts 87 and 91 were obviously about. They had nothing to do with turnout during primaries and caucuses.

Meanwhile, I had assumed we were having a discussion, but I was obviously mistaken: Tell you what. You save the gratuitous condescending snark and the oceanfront property in Utah for people who think voters will turn out in 2016 for Hillary.

[Demsrule86]

120. Obama did not campaign in Georgia

However, he came close to winning. Georgia will win before Texas...and Bernie will not take Florida, Virginia or Ohio in my opinion.

[imagine2015]

75. Bernie will get well over 90% of the Black vote in the General Election.

Does anyone dispute that?

If fact, he would do better than Hillary among African-American and other non-white voters in the General Election .... unless Hillary and the Democratic Party National Committee sit on the sidelines and refuse to help Bernie mobilize voters.

[jcgoldie]

85. so why is it

That we can assume the black vote is in the bag for Bernie despite the fact very few actual black voters are voting for him, and yet we are simultaneously to assume young people and independents will not vote for Clinton at all?

[riversedge]

77. Sanders and his camp are divisive.

[BillZBubb]

78. Congratulations! You just got my ignore of the day award.

The prestigious award is reserved for the dumbest post of the day. It's early, but you win.

You project Hillary's MO onto Sanders. The Clintons have always been divisive, especially on race. Of course you missed her 2008 anti Obama performance and Bill's historic Sister Souljah show.

[Henhouse]

80. Might as well ignore me too delicate flower....I'm in South Carolina...n/t

[snowy owl]

81. It's a factual acknowledgement. Honestly.

[Attorney in Texas]

83. I suspect it has to do with the false meme that Hillary uses based on "total votes" where the word

"total" means "not a total" but means something like "votes only count from primary states and from a few caucuses but excluding votes from numerous caucus states."

Hillary built up a lot of votes in the states of the the Bible Belt (the 13 states of the former Confederacy) which have less progressive Democrats than the rest of the nation and which are all primary states and not caucus states.

[mcar]

88. According to some of Sen Sanders' supporters they don't

I'm happy my vote for HRC here in FL counted.

[Henhouse]

92. My vote comes from the south and my congressional district has been electing Rep. Jim Clyburn

Representative (D-SC 6th District) since 1993.

So tell me again how my vote doesn't matter?

[All in it together]

114. Your vote matters as it should in the primaries, because it's a primary election between Dems.

And it's not winner take all. The second person gets some of the delegates to the national Democratic Convention, that chooses the party's nominee.

In the general election Republicans usually win in the southern states and it is winner take all for one candidate in the electoral college. So anyone in any state who votes for the candidate that came in second is not given any votes in the electoral college from their state.
It doesn't matter the total number of votes the candidate gets, just the number of states they win and get their electoral college delegates.
It is unfortunate that so many people have so little say in red and blue states, if they are for the other party.

[Fawke Em]

96. It means our Southern states will never go blue. Period.

I'm in Tennessee. I get what he means.

[Henhouse]

103. Right...Because Arkansas never elected Bill Clinton and Georgia never Elected Jimmy Carter...n/t

[Fawke Em]

110. You need to update your calendar.

[TCJ70]

100. Typical of Clinton supporters to turn a fact...

...into an attack. Did she NOT get more votes in the south?

[chillfactor]

109. Guess that...

Sanders does not think anyone living in the south has a brain.....what a horrendous statement he made.

[All in it together]

115. See post 114

Of course Bernie isn't dissing the people in the south. I'm sorry that's how you interpret it.

[PeaceNikki]

116. He also said "strawman purchases" while discussing guns which made me cringe.

[arcane1]

117. Sounds like a simple statement of fact to me.

Much of the non-south hasn't voted yet

[beedle]

118. Humm when is it okay to mention 'race'?

So let me get this straight, when the Bernie side mentions "ghettos' and their unequal association to 'race' in the American historical context that's a no-no, but if you talk about poverty and the poor you are criticized because the focus is on 'poverty' instead of 'race'?

Then if Bernie side talks about "The South" the Hillary side says you're disrespecting Blacks, but when the Hillary side talks about superpredators this is about 'all criminals' and has nothing to do with any specific 'race'?

Will the Hilary camp release a whitepaper on the rules of discussing issues of race ... "Ghettos and SuperPredators" must NEVER mention 'race', "The South and Poverty" you must ALWAYS mention race ... anything else?

[TheDormouse]

119. YAWN. The South is more conservative, so more attracted to Hillary's more conservative

message.

K-I-S-S

Bernie's made this same point in a number of interviews and speeches.
It was not meant to demean Southern voters in any way.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Sanders cast his performance as part of a Western comeback, saying he expects to close the delegate gap with Clinton as the contest moves to the more liberal northeastern states, including her home state of New York. He also said his campaign is increasing its outreach to superdelegates, the party insiders who can pick either candidate, and are overwhelmingly with Clinton.

"The Deep South is a very conservative part of the country," he said. "Now that we're heading into a progressive part of the country, we expect to do much better."

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e31234eb416546dabd902ea4ce07eb14/sanders-seeks-caucus-trifecta-win-close-delegate-gap