Outgoing longtime Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) said that the Democratic Party is “facing extinction” in Tennessee and noted that Democrats don’t have a strategy to appeal to rural voters across the United States. “As usual, Democrats are not alert to future dangers,” Cooper told the Nashville Scene. “The biggest danger we face in an off-year election after we won the White House is the 100-year trend toward the other party. Redistricting is small potatoes compared to that historical trend.” In Tennessee and likely in other rural areas, Democrats’ “strategy is blind hope,” Cooper told the local outlet. “Many of the folks you’re probably listening to have probably never visited these counties. They’re not kin to these folks. Their best friends don’t live out there. I had the advantage of being born in Nashville but raised in Shelbyville.” “It’s important to be in communication with your constituents, not to be their …