Posted on 11/22/2004 9:23:16 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Bush's huge victory in the fast-growing areas beyond the suburbs alters the political map.
WASHINGTON — The center of the Republican presidential coalition is moving toward the distant edges of suburbia.
In this month's election, President Bush carried 97 of the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties, most of them "exurban" communities that are rapidly transforming farmland into subdivisions and shopping malls on the periphery of major metropolitan areas.
Together, these fast-growing communities provided Bush a punishing 1.72 million vote advantage over Democrat John F. Kerry, according to a Times analysis of election results. That was almost half the president's total margin of victory.
"These exurban counties are the new Republican areas, and they will become increasingly important to Republican candidates," said Terry Nelson, the political director for Bush's reelection campaign. "This is where a lot of our vote is."
These growing areas, filled largely with younger families fleeing urban centers in search of affordable homes, are providing the GOP a foothold in blue Democratic-leaning states and solidifying the party's control over red Republican-leaning states.
They also represent a compounding asset whose value for the Republican Party has increased with each election: Bush's edge in these 100 counties was almost four times greater than the advantage they provided Bob Dole, the Republican presidential nominee eight years ago.
In states like Ohio, Minnesota and Virginia, Republican strength in these outer suburbs is offsetting Democratic gains over the last decade in more established — and often more affluent — inner-tier suburbs. As Democrats analyze a demoralizing defeat in this month's presidential election, one key question they face is whether they can reduce the expanding Republican advantage on the new frontier between suburbs and countryside.
"When any party is losing a growing group of voters, that's a problem —
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
That just sounds good!
The Democrats can solve this problem by moving further left. :-p
Pinal AZ had a GOP vote margin of 9161....where is that?
And we own the areas where the young families are rearing the next generation of voters....Love it!
The DemonicRats have a problem....Hehehehe!
And he still got the second largest amount of votes for President ever.
I'd like to think 2004 was the libs' high water mark - but I said the same thing about 2000.
Agreed. And in the spirit of "wanting to keep the Democrat Party viable", let me offer this suggestion. Keep Terry Mcauliffe!!!
Thankfully, that generation is receeding quickly for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that we are SICK TO DEATH OF THEM and we're not going to take their PC bullcrap any longer when it comes to making laws and raising our kids.
Does that mean Mass will be turning Republican sometime in the next decade....that would be good news.
We have a son/dil and several nephews/nieces with their spouses who have moved into one of these areas across the nation in the last 4+ years.
They are well educated and hard working young people. They pay a lot of taxes and want to pay less. They have zero compassion for whiners, losers and the victim mentality losers.
They love their families and country (even more since 9/11). They have flag decals on their suvs, vans and pickups. Many fly flags at their home. So when some left winger like Whoopi, Moore or Follywooder makes fun of America, those left wingers become losers to these young people.
They have 401k s or IRA's. When a lib mouths the anti business mantras, that lib becomes an enemy to them.
They don't use cable tv, they use one of the satellite systems which means they get Fox. They don't buy the big Fishwraps and local fishwraps which push the left wing lies/mantras. This makes them fairly immune to the lies of the MSM.
They are growing in numbers and the areas where they live are growing. Contrast that to the Goron/Kerry inner cities which are losing population due to abortion, gang wars, drug deaths and other liberal malady's.
The trends for the lunatic left are the opposite. The Slave/Death party is dropping in numbers and not expanding.
The Rise Of The Exurbs. This is the story that legacy media neglected all year. They played a big role in 2004 and will play increasingly bigger roles in future elections as they continue their explosive growth. The Democrats look like they are hemmed in to dominate the cities and inner-tier suburbs that cast an increasingly declining share of the nation's vote. Its a formula for permanent minority party status.
I think it depends on the labor racket. Younger members grew up under Reagan, and they resent commie-anything. Culturally, they use the term "fag" freely and despise big city lights. Unfortunately, the older members are still in charge and hold murderous power (literally) to win government contracts and fix elections. They are desperately trying to recruit younger voters ala Michael-Moore style political appeal.
The hispanics who invaded in the 70s have either A) died or gone to prison B) built themselves into respectable, religious-based communities (mostly catholic) and have become a slightly conservative middle class.
The current wave of Indian immigrants are mostly legal and highly professional, but I'm not sure about their politics. I fear some of them are social liberals.
The old Boston politicians are toppling fast thanks to the Howie Carrs of the world who are merciless in calling them on corruption and basic poor values. (Think- Billy Bulger, Mayor Meninno, and even John F'ing Kerry. These crooked men live under a microscope that didn't exist 20 years ago.)
The strongest liberal elements here in mass are the yuppies who graduated from Boston University et al., lived in the city for a few years, became successful, then bought a house in the suburbs (ie, the people this thread is about). They are LIBERTINES. They tend to start out liberals and gradually convert rightward. These folks often walk a fine line between smart and clueless ("a little education is a dangerous thing"). Usually between the husband and wife, at least one of them breaks conservative once they start having babies and paying bills. (Usually it's the man.)
Academia is the other great pillar of the left in MA. The best promising sign in years is that teachers today stay for about 2 years, then move on to other careers. No more b*tches who sit on a throne for 30 years and punish young kids for their own sexual frustrations and other neurotic failings in life.
Not only do I whole-heartedly agree with your take, I am living it (except I still have cable, but primarily for broadband internet access).
"It's not going to be long before the liberal areas of LA and SF aren't going to have to worry about secession, they're going to be kicked out."
I wish that were the case, but the Kerry margins over Pres. Bush in CA coastal counties were staggering. I live in Oakland, CA which is in Alameda County. Pres. Bush received only 23.5% of the vote in a county which turned out nearly 600,000 voters and gave Kerry a 287,000 vote margin. In SF County, where Pres. Bush rec'd just 15.3% of the vote, Kerry had a 241,000 vote margin over Pres. Bush. Other Bay Area counties were as follows: San Mateo Co. (Bush 29.4%, Kerry with a 114,000 vote margin); Santa Clara Co. (Bush 34.7%, Kerry with a 175,000 vote margin; Sonoma Co. (Bush 31%, Kerry with an 80,000 vote margin); Contra Costa Co. (Bush 36.7%, Kerry with a 101,000 vote margin; Marin Co. (Bush 25.9%, Kerry with a 57,000 vote margin).
Altogether, Bush lost these seven Bay Area counties by 1,055,000 votes. Added to Los Angeles County, which Kerry won by 800,000 votes, gives Kerry a 1.9 million vote cushion. The problem for Republicans is that most of these counties are still growing at a decent rate which offsets higher growth in smaller exurban CA counties.
The analysis of CA voting in Comment #16 does not include smaller CA coastal counties like Monterey, Santa Cruz, Humboldt, Mendocino, Solano, Napa (not quite on the Coast), and Santa Barbara, most of which Kerry won by very large majorities.
Thanks for the reply;
California is the exception to everything. The coastal counties may not be stagnant or declining in population here yet but the Democrats can't break through into interior "Red" California. When we revisit the state in 20 years, the picture may be entirely different.
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