Scot Lehigh points out in the Boston Globe today that “you could drive in a straight line from Virginia Beach to Los Angeles and, save for Illinois, not hit a single state that voted for Kerry until you arrived in California.”
In fact, looking at the Election Returns by County, here, it seems to me that you could drive from Virginia Beach to San Francisco and never pass through a blue COUNTY until you reached the Bay Area. Maybe one or two detours would be necessary, but they wouldn’t be big ones.
John, Mark Steyn beat you to it:
You can drive from coast to coast across the middle of the country and never pass through a single county that voted for John Kerry[.]
See
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/11/07/do0704.xml
Well, what can I say? I would like to say that brilliant and perceptive political cartographers naturally follow the same path. But I won’t…. What I will say is that I’m glad I have readers more widely read than I.
Wow! Who would have thought that the ultimate grand divide in the USA would come down to … rural/suburban vs. urban.
You can drive all over Oklahoma and never find ANY county that voted for Kerry!
You can drive all over Oklahoma and never find ANY county that voted for Kerry!
So how come I am stuck in a both a county and a state that voted for Kerry (Howard County, Maryland)?
It could be worse: you could live in Montgomery County as I do.
oh man,I used to live in Columbia, MD as a teen. The only thing good about that place was the library and the bike paths. Oh, the pretentious street names….
I feel for ya, Richard.
Meep,
Yes Columbia is infamous for its street names. As soon as you give your street name e.g., Liquid Laughter Lane, Melting Shadow Lane, Spinning Seed, to someone they roll their eyes and immediately say oh you must live in Columbia. When I first moved here the county as a whole was conservative and Republican. However, with the growth of Columbia we have had an influx of Liberals and the county now votes Democrat by a wide margin (54.5 % to 45.5 % in the last election).
mj
You are correct. We don
It could be even worse: you could live in Brookline, MA where over 80% of the voters voted for Kerry! And yes, it is called the People’s Republic of Brookline. But the property values are great! My house has increased in value at least 300% since I bought it 20 years ago.
Perhaps the mindset that causes one to vote for Kerry is a part of the ‘culture sink’ that occurs in overcrowded conditions, like many other urban ills.
“Wow! Who would have thought that the ultimate grand divide in the USA would come down to … rural/suburban vs. urban.”
This reminds me of a history lesson I had in 10th grade. The first McKinley election apparently was divided in the very same way. In that case, however, the urban bit won.