Carlton County, Minnesota

[Alcon]

Why did Kerry win every single township in this county?

It's pretty heavily white, pretty middle class, and both the white and Native American areas voted Kerry.

[Cubby]

I'm not an expert on the area, but the county is near the Mesabi Iron Range, where there is a lot of unionism and mining. BRTD said in another post that in this part of MN, many voters would never vote Republican. But its important to note that this voting continues to be based on economics, which is losing ground to "values" crap when deciding elections these days. Northeast Minnesota as a whole seems to be the most left-wing part of the state, even more so than Hennepin County.

[Alcon]

It has a $40,000+ median household income, which seems odd for a very economically liberal area.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

What is said above is basically correct. It is a big mining area and very unionist.

What Pym says on my previous comments is also true. Both Carlton and neighboring St. Louis county, haven't voted Republican in over 70 years. The tradition of Democratic voting there is so strong that it can beat pretty much any wedge issues the GOP throw out. Kind of the opposite of those Republican enclaves in the south that have been so since the Civil War and are impossible to swing. Also most people in the area are not big fans of the religious right or the ultra-social conservatives of the GOP. I doubt Michele Bachmann would be too popular up there. That's why I'm sure it's not going anywhere anytime soon and is probably the most Democratic predominately white rural area in the country.

The income in this case is due most of the population being located fairly close to Duluth in what effectively becomes an exurban area, however unlike most exurbs the voting patterns don't change much, largely because the people there probably originally lived in Duluth or the rural parts and kept their voting patterns as they moved in and are still blue collar. And the area is so solidly Democratic the GOP simply doesn't have any sort of organization at all, and as long as that's the case they just won't win.

This area is actually more Democratic than Hennepin county yes because it is solid and doesn't have those awful outer suburbs I hate so much that Hennepin does. And it is also the most partisan, as it voted for Humphrey III pretty overwhelmingly in the 1998 governor's race while Hennepin and Ramsey counties voted for Ventura (although Humphrey probably won the Twin Cities proper)

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It has a $40,000+ median household income, which seems odd for a very economically liberal area.

San Francisco has a $55,221 median household income, and is definitely more economically liberal.

[Alcon]

It has a $40,000+ median household income, which seems odd for a very economically liberal area.

San Francisco has a $55,221 median household income, and is definitely more economically liberal.

San Francisco is also in a locale with inflated incomes, in a state with inflated incomes, and has a culture that I doubt Carlton County shares.

San Francisco, for instance, has a higher poverty rate than Carlton County, although both are fairly low.