PVI for counties

[CountyTy90]

In Illinois, I think my home county of LaSalle has in the past mirrored the rest of the state, however, it's leaning Republican lately. LaSalle County is a "typical" American county (if there was one): "large" cities, small villages, lakes, rivers, forests, lots of farmland, factories, community college, etc.

It's hard in Illinois because the vast majority of counties vote Republican, however, the state is a Democratic stronghold because of Cook County.

Take the 2010 Gubernatorial and Senate races for example, the closest county was St. Clair (even though Giannoulias won St. Clair and lost statewide).

In 2012, the closest county was Knox County, which is home to Knox College, and not much else. Outside of Galesburg, it's very rural, very agricultural, and surprisingly has a fairly large Amish population.

[CountyTy90]

San Benito is California's bellwether.

Wouldn't you also say San Joaquin?

I recently did a study on California demographics from 1980 to 2010 (fascinating to say the least) and San Joaquin County has mirrored California in each census in terms of racial make-up.