or at least not liberal compared to the atlantic and pacific coasts? There aren't any overly liberal areas on the coast. Most areas are moderate to conservative
- Fort Myers to Sarasota is essentially rich old republican people who like to play golf
- Tampa is politically moderate. Some dems, some republicans. Fairly mixed area.
- the areas on the gulf coast between Tampa and New Orleans has always sort of had a racist reputation. Those areas are also very militaristic (look at Pensacola) and were republican far before the rest of the south (Trent Lott, Jack Edwards). Ford won most of those CDs in 1976
- New Orleans is the only quasi-liberal areas of the gulf coast which is due to the party scene. Much of the old character of New Orleans is gone as the hurricane wiped out much of the citys culture
- areas between New Orleans and Beaumont is a huge s---h---. Think miles and miles of by-the-hour motels
- Port Arthur/Beaumont is economically left wing and is one of the few AFL CIO strongholds of the south. However, the only reason the area still votes democrat is due to the huge AA population. On DRA it seems as if the Red and Blue on election and population almost perfectly corerelate
- Houston is politically segregated. The urban core is 70% dem but the outer core is 70% republican. In 1984, Mondale won the 18th district 72-28 but lost the 7th 83-17.
- Galveston, SE Harris County (Deer Park, Pasadena) used to be dem (Dukakis won Galveston county in 1988) but is essentially Archie Bunker country
- Brazoria is a mix between gop suburbanites and archie bunkers
- the area between Brazoria and Corpus Christi is essentially bigtime redneck areas
- Corpus Christi is essentially a contest between whether or not the rednecks can outvote the meskins.
- the area south of Corpus Christi is very dem but isn't really liberal
I'm not quite sure it's the party scene that causes New Orleans to vote Democratic...
