arizona.

[angus]

People come and go.  If you can afford to get out of the rustbelt and you want to, then you probably do.  Leave behind the poorest among you.  Urban centers in the upper midwest and new england and the middle atlantic form socialpolitical crucibles in which a more DNC-friendly sample is left behind.
 
Urban Nevada, which is all of Nevada since it's pretty much empty and desolate (the antithesis of, say, connecticut) feels like nice proving ground for the GOP, even among those who moved there Democrats.  Just from my observation.  But prove themselves they must, because it isn't bedrock Republican.  Any analysis of Nevada is made difficult by the fact that only 40% of the voting-age population actually votes here.  This probably favors the Republicans, but LV is a mix of old & rich and young & hip.  People come for many reasons; often life's losers come for the glamour, and sometimes they stay.  Reno has a festive quality (in the san francisco sense) and could prove hostile to re-election if, for example, the Bush people make too bold a move to codify marriage.  It's a small town, but represents about ten percent of the state population.  The rest of the state is Bush Country.

The idealism of those who move to Arizona is an individualistic one.  Clean air and low taxes.  Business-friendly.  No quakers, no shakers.  Lots of high-spirited cowboys with a long day's work and an appetite for steaks and whores.  Arizona is Bush Country.  No need to waste money in this part of the sunbelt.

[angus]

Welcome home prodigal son.

[angus]

Look, if you live in Brooklyn, you worry about who's going to pick your garbage up.  You worry about guns and gang violence.  You get mad when your neighbor turns his stereo up too loud.  Social services are important enough to spend money on.  And you don't want your sons and daughters mixed up with the 'wrong crowd.'

If you live in Colorado, that edge gets taken off.  You can burn your trash.  And you need your guns because the nearest cops are fifty miles away.  You begin to think a man ought to be able to smoke a joint in his own back yard and bring a whore home from the bar if he wants.  And you can turn your stereo up as loud as you want.  There is no 'wrong crowd'  In fact, there's no 'crowd' at all.

It doesn't matter where you move from, but if you're moving to the Great American West, it doesn't take long to become a Republican.  Ever notice how they always say 'back' east and 'out' west.  There's a reason for that.  

[angus]

Look, if you live in Brooklyn, you worry about who's going to pick your garbage up.  You worry about guns and gang violence.  You get mad when your neighbor turns his stereo up too loud.  Social services are important enough to spend money on.  And you don't want your sons and daughters mixed up with the 'wrong crowd.'

If you live in Colorado, that edge gets taken off.  You can burn your trash.  And you need your guns because the nearest cops are fifty miles away.  You begin to think a man ought to be able to smoke a joint in his own back yard and bring a whore home from the bar if he wants.  And you can turn your stereo up as loud as you want.  There is no 'wrong crowd'  In fact, there's no 'crowd' at all.

It doesn't matter where you move from, but if you're moving to the Great American West, it doesn't take long to become a Republican.  Ever notice how they always say 'back' east and 'out' west.  There's a reason for that.  

isn't LA or Okland just like Brooklyn?

Exactly.

[angus]

Okay, now your going to yank my chain?  I'll assume, for the moment, that you're being serious.  What I typed is what I have observed.  Makes sense to me.  The West is the West.  Yet, in maps which color Bush Country in one color and Gore Country in another, there's this odd anomaly along a very thin slice along the coast.  Usually, not a continuous band, but more of a dotted line.  Check out Dave's 2000 county map.  You astutely point out LA and Oakland, as if to add an exclamation point to what I typed earlier.  As if to agree, but with the following exception that proves the rule, sort of.  Clear?

[angus]

Thanks.  No, you misinterpreted.   It was my fault.  I had a serious visual of connecticut green (as opposed to Las Vegas beige).  That particular sentence did not refer to voting proclivities, but climatic differences.  My apologies.

The statement stands.  The 'urban centers' to which I refer are those with which you are probably familiar.  For example, while most of CT is filthy rich, you must know Hartford is pretty much Harlem in the middle of a golf-course.