In the now solidly red South, it seems almost inconceivable that Democrats once reigned supreme in the Heart of Dixie. They did, though, coining a term that's still around today: "Yellow Dog Democrat."
Ever wonder where the phrase came from? The folks at Stanford University had this to say: "The term Yellow Dog Democrat goes back decades to a time when any Democrat would vote for an old yellow dog if it were running on the Democratic ticket."
In other words, a true Yellow Dog Democrat would sooner vote for a mutt than a Republican.
Such people were once common in the South, virtually locking out Republicans trying to hold any elected office. The Democratic stranglehold was so tight that between 1880 and 1948, Republican presidential candidates won only five Southern states - Tennessee voted for Warren G. Harding in 1920, and Herbert Hoover won four Southern states in 1928.
The phrase can be traced all the way back to Abraham Lincoln, who used it in an 1848 speech. It really picked up steam during the presidential elections of 1928, when Democrat Al Smith ran for the country's top office against Republican Herbert Hoover. Alabama Sen. Tom Heflin – known as "Cotton Tom" – bucked the trend and said he wouldn't support Smith, a Catholic, instead opting to support Hoover, the eventual winner.
That didn't sit well with people back in Alabama and the state was among the seven won by Smith, even though many people didn't agree with his platform.
The saying - "I'd vote for a yellow dog if he ran on the Democratic ticket" - became a popular once more to describe the voter support for the less-than-ideal candidate. The other version was "I'd vote for a yellow dog before I'd vote for a Republican."
And now you know...
It has been a busy week in Alabama politics. Here's what's been going on:
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