I live in Charles County, not one of the so called "liberal counties". The thing is the counties in the center of the state are the more populous ones and also are more liberal. One the fringes like the eastern shore and the western panhandle, people are more Conservative. The reason this gives the Liberals power is because all of the big cities are in this center and they help out the Liberals.
Isn't this a bit...obvious? Almost unanimously, the most populous county in each state voted for John Kerry, and George Bush won more counties than John Kerry in most states, too, including more than half of all states that voted Democratic in 2004. (Only Hawaii, New Jersey and every state in New England had more of their counties vote for John Kerry than George Bush.)