The New Southern Strategy

The story of Mr. Bright, the current mayor of Montgomery, could have been sketched by Robert Penn Warren, the novelist who famously captured the essence of Southern populism. Stocky and square-shouldered, Mr. Bright professes a love of chicken livers and is a deacon in Montgomery's First Baptist Church. Despite nearly a decade in politics, he is still a bit rough around the edges: A poster on the wall of his campaign office, scrawled in black marker, reminds Mr. Bright to say "please" when making fund-raising calls.

Mr. Bright toyed with the idea of running as a Republican. He spoke with party activists "and prayed on it." But he decided that he felt more at home with the Democrats, whom he describes as the party of working people and the party of diversity.

"The Republican Party has done a wonderful job of making it appear that you don't have a choice," said Mr. Bright, standing on a sidewalk in downtown Prattville, dabbing at sweat beading on his forehead. "But that's changing. That's changing with me."

That Democrats are competitive at all in the South is one of the central narratives of this year's fight for Congress. As recently as July 2006, the year Democrats took control of Congress, a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll showed Southern voters bucking national sentiment, saying they preferred Republicans over Democrats by 47% to 40%.

But this spring, the party won special elections for House seats in heavily Republican parts of Mississippi and Louisiana. Democrats consistently outnumbered Republicans across the South in this year's presidential primaries. And in the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll, conducted last month, Southern voters said they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress over a Republican one by a 44% to 40% margin, a reversal of the long-term historical patterns.

Getting Competitive

In Virginia, Democrat Mark Warner, the former governor, is far ahead in the race to replace retiring Republican Sen. John Warner (no relation). In Mississippi, Democrat Ronnie Musgrove, who fought to post the Ten Commandments in state buildings, is polling even or just ahead of his opponent. In North Carolina, Democrat Kay Hagan is stressing her family's military roots in a challenge to Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

In early 2007, both parties expected only 35 to 40 House seats out of 435 to be truly competitive. Now, half a dozen Republican-held House seats across the South, including rural districts in Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana and South Carolina, are growing more competitive. That makes life tougher for Republicans already facing a 19-seat deficit.

Mr. Bright and his fellow Democrats still have a big task ahead if they have any hope of establishing a Southern beachhead. The Republican Party has had a strong hold on the region for decades, and getting voters to break old habits in voting booths could be difficult. As they have in the past, cultural issues like abortion and gun rights could break to the forefront of the national debate and sow doubts about even moderate Democrats.

A particular danger for Democrats these days is that voters will turn against established politicians of all stripes, in a burst of antiestablishment feelings fueled by the weak economy and fatigue with politics-as-usual. Indeed, Republican strategists say Democrats are misreading what is an anti-incumbent -- not anti-Republican -- environment, pointing to the primary defeats of incumbents like Maryland Reps. Albert Wynn, a Democrat, and Wayne Gilchrest, a Republican.

But Republican opportunities to erode Democrat's advantages appear to be few and far between. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in an essay published in May in Human Events, the conservative online magazine, warned that his party risks reverting to the "permanent minority status it had from 1930 to 1994."

Why the South Is Shifting

The Republican gains in the South, which started with the Goldwater campaign in 1964, opened the door to the Nixon, Reagan and Bush presidencies by creating an impregnable voting block out of white conservatives. The reasons for the shift are still debated. Some argue Republicans successfully appealed to whites riled over the Civil Rights movement. Others say Republicans successfully appealed to voters in border Southern states who were disenchanted with the nation's crumbling cities and rising crime rate.

Why the South is moving toward Democrats today is an easier question to answer. One reason: With anxiety high about the economy, more voters are looking to Democrats amid a surge of populist sentiment and an embrace of activist government.

"The pool of votes available to Democrats during tough times gets bigger in the South," says John Anzalone, a Bright political consultant who advised Democratic winners in Louisiana and Mississippi. In contrast with past downturns, he also suggested voters in the current political climate do appear more concerned about economic than cultural issues. "Those are our wheelhouse [core] issues," he says.

Democrats have also made efforts to recruit candidates who reflect the values of local districts. Not that long ago, party leaders picked from a list of liberal stalwarts who matched national party sentiments on issues such as gun rights and abortion. Now the focus is finding candidates "who would win," says one senior strategist.

The 2006 victory of Virginia Democrat Sen. Jim Webb, a moderate who favors gun rights, over Republican Sen. George Allen was an early sign that the strategy might work. Sen. Webb says he sees "real potential" for Democrats to make further inroads in the South, especially with white Southern conservatives. "A lot of people are re-evaluating," he says.

Mr. Bright, 56 years old, was raised in Alabama's Wiregrass country southeast of Montgomery. His father sharecropped a small farm before moving the family to his own place. The second youngest of 14 children, Mr. Bright sold vegetables on a truck stand at the side of the road. For many years, the family had no indoor plumbing.

He was one of two siblings to graduate from high school and the only one to go to college. At a local community college, he was elected to the honorary title of "Mr. Boll Weevil." Mr. Bright later graduated from Auburn University with an undergraduate degree in political science. In search of a job, he worked initially as a prison guard, earned a master's degree in criminal justice and eventually a law degree.

When Mr. Bright ran for mayor of Montgomery in 1999, he wasn't given much of a chance against the long-time incumbent, a defender of the city's political establishment. Yet Mr. Bright knocked him off, arguing the city -- the cradle of the Confederacy and a birthplace of the civil-rights movement -- needed to move beyond its history of racial discord.

As mayor, he wooed a Hyundai Motor Co. assembly plant to the community. Mr. Bright hired the city's first black police and fire chiefs and also supported measures that tightened local scrutiny of illegal immigrants.

When the sitting Republican congressman announced his decision to retire last September, Alabama Rep. Artur Davis called Mr. Bright and asked if he was interested. Mr. Davis is in charge of recruiting for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, the political arm of House Democrats.

"Absolutely," replied Mr. Bright, who had long harbored hopes of representing southeast Alabama in Congress.

At the time, Mr. Bright, who says he also spoke to Republican leaders, hadn't committed to either party. He worried he might be seen as a "closet Republican" on Capitol Hill, Mr. Davis says. Democratic leaders assured him he'd be accepted.

"You're expected to speak for your district," Mr. Davis said. "We wouldn't think any other kind of person would win."

In February, Mr. Bright announced his run for Congress as a Democrat. Standing on the steps of the courthouse in Ozark, a small town not far from his family's farm, Mr. Bright described himself as "pro-gun" and "pro-life" and vowed to fight illegal immigration. "He sounded like a Republican to me," says Bob Bunting, Ozark's mayor, who stood in the crowd.

Mr. Bright likes to say that he represents the values of Alabama's Second Congressional District, which encompasses 15 mostly rural counties and parts of Montgomery. He moved easily through the primary in early June.

From a metal folding chair at his campaign headquarters, Mr. Bright concentrated on raising money. On the wall is a "pitch chart," which reminds Mr. Bright to explain to donors why he is running, to say "please," and then thank them. Mr. Bright hates asking for money, the legacy of a father who taught his children that "you don't call folks and beg for anything."

By the end of June, he had $281,000 in the bank, after expenses. Mr. Bright can also expect to benefit from spending by the DCCC, which has a big cash advantage over House Republicans. His Republican opponent, state Rep. Jay Love, who is also a deacon at Montgomery's First Baptist Church, reported having only $91,000 in available cash, although he is certain to draw support from national party leaders and will likely draw on his personal account for the general election.

African-American Turnout

With Illinois Sen. Barack Obama at the top of the national Democratic ticket, Mr. Bright will likely get a further boost from high turnout among African-Americans, who represent more than a quarter of registered voters in the district.

For decades, winning the Republican primary was tantamount to punching a ticket to Capitol Hill. Retiring Rep. Terry Everett served 16 years. Before him, Rep. Bill Dickinson, heir to the Goldwater legacy, served more than 20.

'Bobby, Bobby'

In mid-July, the night the Republican primary was settled, Mr. Love attempted to saddle Mr. Bright with the Democratic Party's liberal national leadership. "If you think Nancy Pelosi and Charlie Rangel know what's best for our district, then there will be a candidate in this race for you -- but he will not be coming out of the Republican Party," Mr. Love says

That line of attack didn't work in the earlier special elections and doesn't seem promising here, either. Early polling by Mr. Bright's campaign showed him holding up well against a variety of Republican opponents including Mr. Love. On the Fourth of July, Mr. Bright arrived early at the annual barbeque held in Millbrook, where plates of chicken and pork went on sale at 5:30 a.m.

In a parking lot, Judy Lowery, a 54-year-old bank employee who lives in nearby Deatsville, tells the candidate she appreciates his "Christian values" and offers to help in the fall. "I almost always vote Republican and I'm going to vote for Bobby Bright," Mrs. Lowery said later. "I don't think he's doing this for himself," she added.

At a parade in Prattville later, folks shouted "Bobby, Bobby" as he wheeled by in his black pickup truck. Mr. Bright, dressed in khaki pants and a red, white and blue shirt, tossed candy and whiffle balls at the crowd.

"Party means less today than it has in my lifetime in Alabama," says state Rep. David Grimes, who lost to Mr. Love in the nomination battle for the congressional seat. Mr. Grimes says the mayor's ties to southeast Alabama, especially his blue-collar upbringing and conservative values, will serve him well in November.

"I tell you this: Bobby Bright is going to be the man to beat."

Write to Greg Hitt at greg.hitt@wsj.com²