Yellow dog Democrat

[1] The term is now more generally applied to refer to any Democrat who will vote a straight party ticket under any circumstances.

[1] The phrase "Yellow Dog Democrat" is thought[7] to have first achieved popularity during the 1928 presidential race between Democratic candidate Al Smith and Republican candidate Herbert Hoover, when Senator J. Thomas Heflin (D-Alabama) crossed party lines and formally supported Hoover.

Many Southern voters disliked several items on Smith's platform, as well as his Roman Catholic faith, but still voted for him.

[citation needed] In the 1899 contest for governor in Kentucky, Theodore Hallam was criticized at a Democratic Party meeting for first supporting William Goebel, then campaigning against him.

Hallam responded: "I admit," he stated blandly, "that I said then what I now repeat, namely, that when the Democratic Party of Kentucky, in convention assembled, sees fit in its wisdom to nominate a yaller dog for the governorship of this great state, I will support him— but lower than that ye shall not drag me!

The Carolina Dog 's wildness and its ginger coat led to its being called a "yaller dog", which in turn may have led to the expression "yellow dog Democrat". [ 1 ]