This week Minnesota Public Radio’s “The Daily Circuit” hosted UMBC political science professor Thomas F. Schaller for a show on the role of the South in U.S. politics. Schaller is the author of Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South and appeared with David Woodard, professor of political science at Clemson University. Schaller articulated the argument, central to his book, that the South is no longer required for Democrats to win a presidential election. He further suggested that the South — though it will, to an extent, always “remain distinct” culturally — is becoming increasingly like the …