Steve Cohen (D-TN), and Southern Progressivism

This is my first diary and I know it's a bit short and probably redundant.  Useful comments  of that nature (in addition to any comments of course) would be appreciated.  And flames too would be okay if needed.  

This diary deals with 2006 congressional elections in a very southern city--Memphis--which might be considered old hat almost 7 months later.  But I think something about that election is informative.  Plus, I drank a couple of beers (I swear no more than 3!) this afternoon while working in the garden which no doubt has loosened my tongue and contributed to my verbosity!

Last fall Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Tennesee's first Jewish congressman, rather handily won his race for house representative  for Tennnessee's 9th District, composed racially of 62% black and 32% white, the rest  being Hispanics or Asians The 9th constitutes virtually all of the city of Memphis with no suburban precincts.  Cohen carried the election by 60%.  Before you say that what solely elected Cohen was the 60% black vote, keep in mind that Cohen was also running  against Jake Ford (who who ran an a "moderate"  independent black candidate) in addition to some obscure and forgotten republican named appropriately White--  hell, republicans can't be elected dog catcher in the 9th  unless they're democrats!  Jake Ford is the brother of Harold Ford Junior, part of the famous/infamous Ford family (dependent on your perspective).  But Cohen is way more progressive than anyone in the Ford family which represented the 9th for 35 some odd years.

Well, to make a long story short,  Cohen ended up carrying all black precincts in the 9th--again running against a black candidate-- as well as the majority of white precincts.  Cohen won the election by a decisive margin, winning 60 percent of the vote to Ford's 22 percent and White's 18 percent.  Sixty percent of the votes received by Cohen were from African-American voters.  Memphis also has a substantial Jewish community by southern standards, many of whom voted for Steve Cohen. A little factoid here:   Memphis is home to the largest Orthodox Jewish synagogue in the U.S.  Shalom y'all!  is its motto.  http://www.baronhirsch.org/...  

If nothing else, his election demonstrated, perhaps to a small extent,  some breakdown of the politcal/racial divide in the South.  Of course, a good chunk of politics is very localized by district so grand and general statements certainly don't always hold.  We can always hope.

Anyway to finally get nearer to whatever point there is to this diary:

Steve Cohen has emerged as one of the most progressive member of the House.  As a TN state senator for 15 of so years he was only 1 of 2 senators to oppose an anti-gay marriage amendment as well as the only one to introduce medical marijuana legislation.  In his state district, he represented midtown Memphis, probably the most liberal in the state.  In the House, he presently has a progressive rating of  96.48--I guess 100 is perfect, which makes his ranking as a progressive House member 10th out of the 435 congressmen and women.  He's ahead of Pelosi, McGovern, and many other progressive stalwarts.  

http://www.progressivepunch.org/...

It goes without saying that last week he voted to oppose the war and he's also a co-sponser of a House bill calling for a universal, national government health plan.  

His politics are such that he could easily represent NYC, San Francisco, Boston, etc.  But Bejesus!  This guy is from Memphis, a heart and soul southern city!

I could say more about the guy--he's a ray of hope in an otherwise fairly conservative state--but I'll let it go at this.  

A good diary dealing with similar issues may be found at:

http://plf515.dailykos.com/