Democrats' southern strategy

Are some democrats employing a good ol' "southern strategy" to pick up votes? You know, bringing race into the campaign for the Democratic nomination to scare white voters?

Republicans are usually the candidates criticized for using such tactics, but some pundits are pointing their fingers at Democrats for doing it during the current presidential contest.  Here are three commentaries that ran in The Washington Post recently about whether John Edwards and Billary (Hillary Clinton with Bill) are engaging in such naughty behavior.

The Edwards campaign, through Elizabeth Edwards, has complained that they don't get as much press attention as Clinton and Barack Obama because Edwards is not black or female.  In The White Stuff, Howard Kurtz examines whether Edwards is trying to rally white men to his side by making such assertions.

The Clinton campaign has questioned whether Barack Obama could have once been a drug dealer and made claims about Martin Luther King that some found insulting.  In Will they play the race card?, Marjorie Valbrun explores whether the Clintons will turn to divisive race strategies to win the nomination, after enjoying a longtime friendship with the African American community. 

And coming full circle, Howard Kurtz revisits the discussion in A Race About Race.