A 'Northern' Response

So there've been a lot of threads about "the South" recently, varying from complaining to insulting to the more pleasant instructions on how to "win it".  And, as a "northerner" (really I'm from Oregon which is a different matter entirely, but it's close enough I suppose), I understand and agree with a lot of the points people are making about how it's not that there's anything "wrong" with the South, we just need to get a candidate who can appeal to them.  That doesn't mean compromising stances, it just means finding charisma (a la Clinton).

That said, a voice in me still speaks up and complains.  More below the fold...

What is my complaint?  Simple: what makes them so special?  I mean no insults to my Southern brethren, as we are all Americans, but why is it that, with a remarkable consistency, Southerners refuse to vote for non-Southern presidential candidates.  The rest of the country is willing to look past regionalism and dialect in our presidential choice, why can't they?

Again, I would like to soften this complaint by repeating that I really do agree that there is nothing "wrong" with the South and that this isn't a matter of stances or ideology so much as culture.  But still, as a "Northerner" I find it extremely frustrating and, well, almost greedy.  Why do we need to pick a guy from Virginia or Arkansas to run for president?  Why are New Englanders all-but-doomed, not to mention residents from my state of Oregon (whom would no doubt be labeled "hippies")?  I understand the historical roots of this fierce regionalism, but I don't understand why it still plays such a potent role in politics.

I guess I have no real solution to my rhetorical question, but it felt like a good and necessary thing to say anyway.  In some ways this is just a "life's-not-fair" venting diary, but if anybody out there has an attempt at an answer to my questions I'd be appreciative.