EVEN BACKWARD SUPERSTITION-OBSESSED AMERICANS ARE GIVING UP ON THE REPUBLICANS

A majority of Americans, particularly those identifying themselves as Republicans, exhibit belief patterns that would seem better suited to life in the 12th century than in the 21st century-- brainwashed into bizarre and superstitious fears based on primitive Bronze Age myths and fairy tales.

The majority of Republicans in the United States do not believe the theory of evolution is true and do not believe that humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. This suggests that when three Republican presidential candidates at a May debate stated they did not believe in evolution, they were generally in sync with the bulk of the rank-and-file Republicans whose nomination they are seeking to obtain.

Independents and Democrats are more likely than Republicans to believe in the theory of evolution. But even among non-Republicans there appears to be a significant minority who doubt that evolution adequately explains where humans came from.

That said, there does seem to have been some political evolution in rural America. NPR reports today on polling that shows Americans in rural parts of the country have strayed from the GOP fold and are as disgusted with the Bush Regime as other Americans are. NPR's analysis says the root of the problem is the catastrophe around the occupation of Iraq.

People from the nation's smallest places had the biggest impact in the last two presidential elections. President Bush's dominance in rural counties is credited with giving him his winning margins in both 2000 and 2004.

But the new survey, of 804 likely voters living beyond cities and suburbs, indicates that the Republican formula for winning presidential elections is losing a key component.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to people who pay attention. Look at the nine newly elected House members endorsed by Blue America last year and then look at the percentage of their districts that are rural:

* Mike Arcuri (NY-24)- 49.5%
* Bruce Braley (IA-01)- 33.7%
* Chris Carney (PA-10)- 55.4%
* Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20)- 55.1%
* John Hall (NY-19)- 21.3%
* Paul Hodes (NH-02)- 48.3%
* Jerry McNerney (CA-11)- 9.9%
* Patrick Murphy (PA-08)- 9.2%
* Joe Sestak (PA-07)- 1.4%
* Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)- 33.4%

Many of the challengers we've endorsed so far this year have significant rural constituencies:

* Charlie Brown (CA-04)- 32.6%
* John Laesch (IL-14)- 13.8%
* Eric Massa (NY-29)- 41.6%
* Victoria Wulsin (OH-02)- 27.0%

Many of these districts voted strongly for Bush in 2000 and 2004, helping to provide him with the plausibility he needed to be able to get away with stealing with elections. Without rural majorities, even fewer people would have been willing to swallow the line that he was a legitimately elected president. Today these districts and districts like them in almost all parts of the country are up for grabs. Democrats are mounting strong challenges in rural Hose districts and Democrats running for the Senate are paying close attention to the rural parts of their states. All the Democrats running for president feel they are competitive in rural parts of the country, particularly in the Northeast, Midwest and in the West.