re: Fellow southerners - why do we keep electing fools?

Prof, you've got it. The money is the issue. Any politician that starts out decent ends up owing favors due to the money that special interest groups hold over their heads. It's just set up for corruption. So, it attracts the lower end of the scale.

Local offices are different. But once the money gets involved, its over. And decent people want no part of it.