I can't think of anything good about OC at all. Period. People who scream "but there's more to areas than politics!" miss the point. Name something good about OC. And no the utterly nightmarish weather is not one of them.
Proximity to the world class amenities of Los Angeles. Right by the ocean. Far more diverse number of restaurants and recreational activities. Hell, the OC cities (and for some cities each district) each have a distinctive character which serve to make it far less monolithic then Des Moines.