500k+ metros for Romney

[memphis]

1. Dallas
2. Houston
3. Atlanta
4. Phoenix
5. Pittsburgh
6. San Antonio
7. Cincinnati
8. Kansas City
9. Charlotte
10. Indianapolis
11. Nashville
12. Jacksonville
13. Louisville
14. Oklahoma City
15. New Orleans
16. Salt Lake City
17 Birmingham
18. Tulsa
19. Fresno
20. Omaha
21. Bakersfield
22. Dayton
23. Baton Rouge
24. Grand Rapids
25. Little Rock
26. Sarasota
27. Knoxville
28. Charleston
29. Colorado Springs
30. Greenville
31. Fort Myers
32. Boise
33. Wichita
34. Lakeland
35. Augusta
36. Ogden
37. Harrisburg
38. Melbourne
39. Provo
40. Chattanooga
41. Lancaster
EDIT: Atlanta narrowly avoided being on this list. Good catch, BK!

[memphis]

38. Melbourne

What?

Besides that, the only surprises on this list are Pittsburgh (well, it wasn't surprising after watching Obama further collapse in SWPA) and Atlanta (the metro area must take in far, far more hinterlands than I realized).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne,_Florida
Atlanta and Pittsburgh were quite close. And yes, Atlanta's metro is rather broadly defined by the gubmint. Rather absurdly so.

[memphis]

38. Melbourne

What?

Besides that, the only surprises on this list are Pittsburgh (well, it wasn't surprising after watching Obama further collapse in SWPA) and Atlanta (the metro area must take in far, far more hinterlands than I realized).

Charlotte is also a surprise. It must take in a lot more than Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln, Cabarrus, Union and York County, SC.

Quoth wikipedia: "The Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)[3] is defined as twelve counties in North Carolina and four counties in South Carolina."
But just the six counties you mentioned deliver a Romney win as well.

[memphis]

I used the Census's definition of Metropolitan Statistical Area. They do tend to cover wider areas than what I would choose, but they're the experts and I needed some established guidelines. Particularly with Atlanta, the metro area extends forever. See the map I posted earlier in the thread. Like most things, a sense of metropolitan area is not binary. It fades gradually as one increases distance from an urban core.  And Atlanta and Pittsburgh were very close. Kansas City is always more Republican because of Johnson County, Kansas, a large wealthy suburban county (by far the most populous and richest county in KS) with a strong GOP showing. Thomas Frank, who wrote What's the Matter with Kansas is from there. Hamilton County, north of Indianapolis, is similarly full of well to do Republican white people.

[memphis]

I'm not sure where you got the results for Atlanta, but in the 29 county Atlanta MSA, I have the following results:

Obama: 1,096,628 (50.26%)
Romney: 1,057,819 (48.48%)

I think your numbers might also include the counties in the Atlanta Combined Statistical Area?

I was using a misleading wikipedia article Checked with the offical census website and I shouldn't have been including Hall County. I stand corrected. I'm not super familiar with the Atlanta area. On paper, it looks too far for commuters, but the growth out there is explosive. What gives?

[memphis]

I am pleased to announce that the great metropolitan area of Fresno, CA has been liberated from the wall of shame.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9DHgnKeAxo