Gleaning Facebook: Why Did Georgia Lead the New South?

 I asked this question on Facebook:

Why did Georgia surge ahead of most of the deep South in the last half of the twentieth century?

And then I answered my own question (followed by a couple of other commenters):

Terrell: 

From 1950 it could have been Birmingham or Charlotte or Nashville or some other southern city that led the South. Nope. It was Atlanta. 

I think one of the keys was strong, economically progressive leadership of the moderate Georgia Democratic Party. Each of the other Southern states had to endure occasional Republican administrations and their rigid doctrinaire approach to governance. Georgia Democrats were (and are) pragmatic and moderate. Governors Vandiver, Sanders, Carter, Busbee, Harris, Miller, and Barnes led from the middle where most Georgians are.

Then came 2002 and the Right Wing --- some snooping in bedrooms, some speading fear about illegal immigrants, some trying to get rid of public education, some promoting their "fair tax" that would shift the tax burden drastically to the middle and lower classes while reducing the tax on the wealthy, etc. etc. etc. These Republicans let our state fall into a near depression with reduced services, higher class sizes in schools, high unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, closed or severely limited state parks, lost opportunities for transportation projects... I could go on. 

Let's fix it. Vote Democratic.

John McClellan: 

Because of the leadership provided by people like Carl Sanders, Roy Barnes, George Busbee, Tom Murphy, Joe Frank Harris and even Zell Miller when he was governor.

Terrell: 

Tom Murphy was ornery, cantankerous, and aggravating, but we owe him a lot. Despite his rural roots, he fought to make Atlanta a world city. I never liked the idea of putting the names of living folks on highways and buildings and such, but he is very deserving of all the nameplates he garnered in Atlanta and Georgia before his death.

Cameron Smith: 

What about rappers from the dirty south?? Atl reprasintn or it could be the forward thinking policy decisions lacking in other southern metropolitan areas

Terrell: 

Definitely the rappers.