Post interesting results (biggest victories, milestones, etc)

[J. J.]

One January 4, 2011, you can drive:

1.  Across Pennsylvania on I-80 and never enter a Democratic district.

2.  Across Pennsylvania from City Line Avenue to about 60 miles east of the Allegheny County line on Route 30, and never enter a Democratic district.  If I would continue westward, I would have to enter another GOP district before I got to the Allegheny County line.

[J. J.]

In PA, the way Lackawanna has held up for the Dems in contrast to the southwestern counties is kind of interesting.

It's called the "Southwest Swing." 

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Barely, by 2 votes. More impressive is that Toomey won Fayette County, and Corbett won EVERY county in South Western Pennsylvania including Allegheny.

The Western PA realignment is real. The GOP margins in Westmoreland were nothing short of astounding, and they continued all the way down to the local races.

Further, there is no way to blame this on "eeeevviiiiillllll White racists" as was done after 2008. Instead, this is merely a continuation of what started back in 2000.

2000: Westmoreland Flipped.
2004: Greene and Lawrence Flipped
2008: Fayette, Washington, and Beaver flipped (and Cambria barely held out.)
2010 and beyond: Realignment is complete.

I think the interesting thing is that Toomey carried the Southwest overall (The "southwest" being any county bordering Allegheny, Beaver, and Washington counties).

[J. J.]

One January 4, 2011, you can drive:

1.  Across Pennsylvania on I-80 and never enter a Democratic district.

Given that the I-80 runs an almost entirely rural course across the north-central part of the state, this actually wouldn't be all that interesting even if it were true, which it isn't, since Jason Altmire is still with us.

I didn't see that slight enclave in Mercer.  However, this is possibly the furthest you could go on I-80 since at least 1984.