Adopt a Constituency

[Lt. Gov. Immy]

Well, my state Senate district is basically the same thing as my county so here are that stats for it. Care to help me pick a constituency?

Population, 2003 estimate     37,699   
Persons under 5 years old, percent, 2000     6.0%   
Persons under 18 years old, percent, 2000     23.8%
Persons 65 years old and over, percent, 2000     16.5%
Female persons, percent, 2000     50.8%   
White persons, percent, 2000 (a)     91.6%   
American Indian, percent, 2000 (a)     5.3%   
Language other than English spoken at home, pct age 5+, 2000     3.9%   
High school graduates, percent of persons age 25+, 2000     85.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher, pct of persons age 25+, 2000     18.9%   
Median household income, 1999     $36,282   

Basically a white middle class area.  One medium size city (Lewiston) and alot of out-lying farm communities.  A few main industries keep the town alive, a paper mill, a hospital, and a bullet  manufacturing plant, as well as farming (no, not potatoes).  We vote something like 66-33 percent Bush.

Does that help Al?

[Lt. Gov. Immy]

Immy, WMS: I'll work it out tomorrow morning after I've had some sleep

Coolness. Thanks.

[Lt. Gov. Immy]

Immy: after looking up Lewiston (and a couple of nearby counties) a seat that comes to mind is Clwyd South; a very rural seat in Northeast Wales, history of mining (in this case coal rather than metals) and other resource industries, outlying hill farms, tourism increasingly important (Llangollen is in the seat for one thing), Non Conformists (ie: Evangelicals) strong in most of the area.

M.P since 1987 (when it was Clwyd South West) is Martyn Jones (Labour) a former micro-biologist, a member of CND and on the left of the Labour Party. He's got a reputation as an effective constituency M.P. He wears a bow-tie.

Cool, thanks Al. I'll look that constituency up.

[Lt. Gov. Immy]

2001 RESULT FOR CLWYD SOUTH
Labour  51.4%
Conservative  24.8%
Plaid Cymru  11.9%
Others  11.9%

2001 Result: Won by LAB, majority 26.6%

2005 Candidates
Tom Biggins  Conservative   
Deric Burnham  Liberal Democrat   
Alwyn Humphreys  Forward Wales   
Martyn Jones  Labour   
Nick Powell  UK Independence Party   
Mark Strong  Plaid Cymru   

Profile: Clwyd South was one of the new Welsh constituencies created in 1997. Many of the extra voters came largely from the industrial areas of Wrexham, which helped to reassert Labour control. Much of the seat had been in Clwyd South-West, which was held by the Conservatives in the 1983 landslide but reverted to Labour in 1987, and Martyn Jones has held it ever since. The high-profile candidature of Boris Johnson, editor of the Spectator and now MP for Henley, failed to revive their vote in 1997. Although Martyn Jones' vote slipped in 2001, he still commands a majority of nearly 9,000, a comfortable 26.6% of the vote. Plaid Cymru slipped to third behind the Conservatives in the 2001 general election. Clwyd South is the home of the annual International Eisteddfod at Llangollen. And nestled in the heart of the beautiful Dee Valley, the area receives plenty of valuable tourist income.

Hmm, looks like a sure Labour win.  I think I'd vote Lib Dem if I were voting.

Are there any similar constiutencies that the Lib Dem is in a close battle with someone?

[Lt. Gov. Immy]

Okay, Al, is there a place like Latah County where I am now?  There's the University of Idaho nd the city of Moscow (combined population 35,000) that is fairly liberal and it is surround by a lot of very small rural and farming communities.  We have one elected Democrat and two moderate-to-liberal Republicans, probably the most liberal Republicans, actually.  I'm hoping that there wil lbe a place where I can cheer for the Lib Dem.

[Lt. Gov. Immy]

Ceredigion I guess (interestingly it's also in Wales). Has two universities; Aberystwth (which is fairly large) and Lampeter (which is extremely small and interesting in several other ways) and a lot of hill farms spread over a very remote and very rural interior. There used to be some lead mines in the NE of the seat.
It's also coastal, which doesn't fit at all, but it's as close as I can find.

It was a Liberal seat from 1885 until Labour won two fluke terms in '66 and '70 (seeing as the only sizeable Labour vote is in Lampeter I still don't understand how it happend) before reverting to the Liberals in 1974. It was the biggest shock of 1992 when Plaid came from *fourth* place to take the seat (although as it's 60% Welsh speaking maybe it shouldn't have been much of a shock) and it's been theirs ever since.
It's currently pretty marginal, and the LibDems think they have a good chance of winning it back.

Awesome Al.  I'll definatley be watching these seats on Election night.