Isn't it interesting, though, that the very low swing in (for example) Nassau county never gets this sort of attention. Obviously it wasn't as initially striking, but we're years out from the election now.
Though an important part of the equation is that they have relatively high numbers of Southern country folks who still voted Democratic as late as 2004 - it may sound perverse, but part of the answer is comparative weakness (but not absence) of racism as a determinant of voting patterns.
Not
an important part of it, but obviously the most important. Of course it's also worth pointing out that having an exotic name was probably more damaging than having a not-white face; it isn't as though any of these places have ever been defined by race.
