so… we don’t get to dress up as Jefferson or Jackson any more?
Jefferson – Jackson dinners are disappearing from the Democratic arsenal of fund-raising. (It’s worth noting that in some past epoch, the Jefferson – Jackson dinners in southern states were frequently paired with a third name — that of a bigtime political governor heavy-weight with huge stature in state politics of … er… keeping segregation alive and running.  I see that Mississippi gets them now paired with Fanny Lou Hamer — parties evolve.)
Interesting argument on keeping the names Jefferson and Jackson as, despite everything, historical figures worth preserving who… after all… did found the political party in two parts. (Though, on that equation, it really should be the Van Buren Dinner.)
I’m having trouble finding it, and I am pretty sure I noted it on my blog when it happened, and it was not headline news by any stretch but once upon a time (I may be the only person anywhere who thought it worth noting) — I caught Barack Obama calling Andrew Jackson one of our nation’s “great presidents”. Depends on criteria, as always — some call him one of the worst for, you know, Trail of Tears…
The big problem might lie in the Republican Party making some deal on the dumping of Jefferson, who… you know, after all, is quite popular, and was a “Republican” as against the “Federalist” (before Van Buren and Jackson came and turned their wares to a Demcoratic Party). Though, here, I spotted a Natinal Review article claiming that the idea to nix Hamilton for a portrait on our currency in favor of a “woman to be named” is in a grand Democratic Party tradition, so they’re still straddling Jefferson to the Democrats after all.