As a bit of a nut when it comes to the politics of demography, the following line leaped out at me in reading George Will’s latest column:

”the center of the nation’s population, now southwest of St. Louis, is moving south and west at a rate of two feet an hour”

That in mind, I was struck by another story and another line in today’s paper. The NYT, in a glowing piece about Birmingham’s burgeoning restaurant scene, had the following from the chef who is credited with jump-starting the area’s epicurean offerings.

Birmingham’s restaurants have become a lure for people who go on to develop a fondness for the city. Food lovers from Atlanta, Montgomery, Ala., and Oxford, Miss., make pilgrimages there (this year Highlands was named “best restaurant worth the long trip” in Atlanta’s weekly newspaper, Creative Loafing), and Mr. Stitt says his restaurants are often used as recruitment tools. “We landed Mercedes,” he said by way of example, referring to the plant in nearby Vance. “A lot of these people were probably brought to Highlands or Bottega to convince them that Alabama was a good place to live.”

So a restauranteur is claiming credit for his state’s ability to a lure major auto company. A bit of fun hyperbole, perhaps, but what’s the big deal?

To me, it perfectly captures the how and the why of the shift that Will alludes to in his column. Attracted by tax incentives, attractive right-to-work laws, a low cost of living and abundant work force, many businesses are opening up new facilities in the South. The auto industry is perhaps the best example, as they’ve placed plants in nearly every single state south of the Mason-Dixon line. But, as anybody in the business world knows, such deals are not done solely on the basis of cheap labor and a few tax breaks. Companies such as Mercedes or BMW (South Carolina) or Nissan (Mississippi) also seek the sort of cultural amenities that will keep their execs happy; things like, well, good restaurants. So what do the local and state politicians do when trying to land such big corporate players — bring ‘em to the best joint in town.