rural areas that mainly vote Democratic

[ButterflyBlood]

how many are left? I know that northeastern Minnesota is one. But on a whole it appears almost every sparsely populated area voted for Bush from all the maps I've seen.

[Ohio Dem]

1. Southeastern Ohio.

Most people here vote Democratic and don't even know why. Maybe it's the union thing. It's funny - there are freepers here that voted for Gore. (Not actual freepers as in the FR site, but they qualify in every other way.)

[HereSince1628]

2. Yeah, but rather than going DFL they voted for Jesse !

I think the socialist history of the area has left them rather volatile. I wouldn't be surprised if both the Iron Range and the Arrowhead go for Kucinich.

BTW, When I lived up there, even the maidens were stirring their coffee with their thumbs! :)

[ButterflyBlood]

5. actually, that's the only part of the state where Humphrey did well

Counties won by Humphrey are in red, won by Coleman are in blue, and by Jesse in green. Jesse won because of his support in the Twin Cities and the suburbs, where the Twin Cities liberals voted for him because of his social stances while the suburban Republicans did because of his economic stances is my guess. note that the inner suburbs are where he did best. It appears he did carry my southern county by a fair margin though (Blue Earth), although that's not really suprising since Mankato where I live makes up most of the population and it's a college town and college kids were Jesse's biggest fans.



This is the 2002 election. Moe's in red, Pawlenty's in blue, and Penny's in green. Moe did best up there as you can see, he still won the Twin Cities but not as much since Penny took more votes away from him there. The suburbs went solidly for Pawlenty, and Penny did best down south, mainly because that's the part of the state he was from. Pawlenty carried my fairly liberal county because Penny did so well here (similar to how Bush carried it because Nader got more than 7%) and Moe came in 3rd place.

so it's actually the most Democratic part of the state. The Twin Cities are the most liberal, but they're more willing to vote for third parties.

[Brucey]

3. Don't rely on MN

Minnesota has always been a moderate state; it's reputation as liberal is based on a few elections in which a home-state boy was in the race. Bush nearly beat Gore in 2000. All of the suburbs and outstate MN are decidedly Republican. MPLS is the liberal place. And, you are right, the Iron Range has traditionally been liberal. We've always elected Dems up there. Overall, it will be a close one... Bush could even win here. We elected a Bush-picked Senator and an extreme right-nazi Governor in 2002. What's next for Minnesota? We're becoming more like Montana every day.

[ButterflyBlood]

6. I highly doubt Bush will win

Look at Wisconsin (same thing), it was even closer in 2000, and right now Bush's reelection numbers there are lower than nationwide. And Wisconsin has an unpopular Democratic governor that could hurt the ticket, while we have an unpopular Republican governor that can't do anything besides hurt Bush.

btw, keep in mind Nader took more than 5%, Gore would've won by 7 points if it wasn't for that.

[Brucey]

9. Hoping

I so hope you are right. Ventura was an embarassment, Pawlenty is frightening, and a Bush win would push me to France.

[dflprincess]

7. The governor won with 44%

a majority did vote for someone else. Normie won partially because a lot of absentee Wellstone voters did not have time to get new absentee votes mailed in and were not in the state so they could vote at the polls. There were also strange calls being made telling people they had time to file absentee and, if they did, they should mark their ballots for Mondale by crossing out Wellstone's name and writing Mondale's in. This would have invalidated the ballot.

Yes, Bush nearly beat Gore, but 5% of the vote went to Nader which means Bush lost Minnesota by 8%.

It is true that only Mpls/St Paul and the range are solidly democratic but there are some pockets in other rural areas and some of the first ring suburbs. One thing I've never understood is why so many farmers vote Repblican.

[Brucey]

12. Yes!

I agree with you completely. I also for years have wondered why there is such strong Republican support among farmers. They are adamant. But why? They must know it is not in their interests. Is it religion, patriotism, tradition (within their families because of their profession), or what?

[angka]

4. union link

in rural areas that are also heavily unionized (a declining occurence) such as mining regions.

[Catch22Dem]

8. Eastern Oklahoma

Our only Dem congressman is in Eastern Ok. and our new Dem governor won on the strength of the Eastern Ok vote.

[jiacinto]

10. Florida's 2nd Congressional District

[NWHarkness]

11. The U.P.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan still trends Democratic in most elections.

[carpetbagger]

13. From the "red v. blue" map, 8 rural areas were "blue" in 2000

They were:

1. New England
2. A mining belt from Southwestern PA to Southern WV/E KY
3. The "Stroke Belt" from coastal NC to Alabama
4. The Mississippi River Valley
5. The upper Mississippi (W. Ill, SW Wi, E Ia, and and area near Duluth)
6. The South Texas Plains
7. Northern New Mexico
8. Counties hugging the Pacific Coast

Since nationally that was basically a tied election, it probably gives a good idea about what the generic vote is. The theme is that we're holding on in rural counties in overwhelmingly liberal regions, a few holdouts from the upper midwest, a mining region, and areas with high minority presence.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

14. Woodstock NY ...Ulster County...rural dems