South vs. South

1. Politically, the GOP has been contracting more and more, and trending nationally, to becoming a regional party of South. Here's the Columbus Dispatch's selections of an interview with U.S. Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), who is not seeking reelection in 2010:

The GOP’s biggest problem? “We got too many Jim DeMints (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburns (R-Ok.). It’s the southerners. They get on TV and go 'errrr, errrrr.' People hear them and say, ‘These people, they’re southerners. The party’s being taken over by southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?’ ”

2. Meanwhile in college football, the South's influence is expanding beyond its region and may be called "America's Conference." Here's Stewart Mandel of SI on the SEC's new gargantuan television contract with ESPN.

At a time when most schools and conferences are slashing budgets due to the poor economy, SEC programs suddenly have more resources at their disposal. Defending national champion Florida is adding $5.9 million to its athletic budget next year and still had enough left over to kick in $6 million to the university's general fund.

Meanwhile, there's no quantifying the potential recruiting exposure gained nationally. While teams like Florida, Alabama, LSU and Georgia can stock their rosters largely with the talent in their own backyard, less-visible teams such as Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Mississippi State can now tell a recruit in, say, Houston to tune in to its game Saturday -- even if it's not on CBS or ESPN.