The Germantown Democratic Club (for yes, Virginia, such a group exists and may even be thriving) met at the Gazebo in Germantown Municipal Park Saturday for its annual picnic. Here Dave Cambron exhorts his fellow Democrats to take heart from recent poll samplings that show President Obama to be leading Mitt Romney nationwide.
Attendance at this year’s event seemed well above the average turnout in recent years.
Ironically enough, considering that Germantown is considered to be the heart of the heart of Shelby County’s Republican constituency, the Germantown Democrats, who also include a good many members from Cordova, Collierville, and unincorporated areas, constitute one of the county’s more active party groups.
An analogy might be to the South Memphis Republican Club, or the Orange Mound Republicans. Do such groups exist?
The point is not facetious. The President will almost certainly carry Shelby County on November 6, and until Republicans are able to carve out a bridgehead within Shelby County’s African American majority, they will not be able in the long run to match Democrats in countywide voting.
In the short run, the GOP has managed quite well, dominating most county elections over the last 20 years despite being demographically challenged. But Democratic incumbents won the countywide offices up for grabs in August, and that fact could have portents for the future.
(Those attending the picnic were well aware, however, that Republicans now dominate politics and government statewide, and that fact is unlikely to change for some time to come.)
