Changes

Also in the interview, Atwater said:

Also in the interview, Atwater said:

<blockquote>'''But Reagan did not have to do a southern strategy for two reasons. Number one, race was was not a dominant issue. And number two, the mainstream issues in this campaign had been, quote, southern issues since way back in the sixties. So Reagan goes out and campaigns on the issues of economics and of national defense. The whole campaign was devoid of any kind of racism, any kind of reference. And I’ll tell you another thing you all need to think about, that even surprised me, is the lack of interest, really, the lack of knowledge right now in the South among white voters about the Voting Rights Act.'''<ref>[https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/06/what-did-lee-atwater-really-say.php What Did Lee Atwater Really Say?]</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>'''But Reagan did not have to do a southern strategy for two reasons. Number one, race was not a dominant issue. And number two, the mainstream issues in this campaign had been, quote, southern issues since way back in the sixties. So Reagan goes out and campaigns on the issues of economics and of national defense. The whole campaign was devoid of any kind of racism, any kind of reference. And I’ll tell you another thing you all need to think about, that even surprised me, is the lack of interest, really, the lack of knowledge right now in the South among white voters about the Voting Rights Act.'''<ref>[https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/06/what-did-lee-atwater-really-say.php What Did Lee Atwater Really Say?]</ref></blockquote>

The bolded items above are omitted from Wikipedia's entry for the "Southern Strategy".<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy Southern strategy]</ref>  In the interview Atwater makes the point that from 1954 to 1966, race is THE dominant issue and that the only way to win on the issue of race was to be registered as a Democrat.  But by the 1980's, the issue of race is resolved and what most Southerners came to care about is national defense and the economy.

The bolded items above are omitted from Wikipedia's entry for the "Southern Strategy".<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy Southern strategy]</ref>  In the interview Atwater makes the point that from 1954 to 1966, race is THE dominant issue and that the only way to win on the issue of race was to be registered as a Democrat.  But by the 1980's, the issue of race is resolved and what most Southerners came to care about is national defense and the economy.