Greider: The trouble started when the party abandoned its working-class base.

[Drunken Irishman]

87. The problem is that the working class abandoned Democrats in the 70s.

This happened long before the party's move to the center. Let's not pretend they've been part of the base for the last forty or so years because, outside working class minorities, they haven't. Democratic presidential candidates have lost the working class white vote in pretty much every presidential election since the 70s.

The Democratic base is pretty much made up of women, minorities and the working poor.

The only thing inflating Democratic numbers among the working class is the minority in that sub-group - but most certainly white working class voters, specially men, have largely abandoned the party for the Republican Party over social issues. The ethnic whites just aren't there anymore compared to the 1960s - beyond a smattering of local elections.