"I don't know if you know much about Oak Park, IL, but it's probably the most liberal place in the US outside of Berkeley, CA."
Take heart. I live outside of Madison, WI. "Twenty Square Miles, Surrounded By Reality." An angry blue blotch in an otherwise red state. ;)
We're going through the "ban smoking everywhere" blues here, too. I don't smoke, so I don't really care, but I side with the business owners on this one, for sure.
I only wish the rest of Wisconsin were a red state. :( Diana forgets Milwaukee and its eastern shore suburbs. And then there is Burlington and that area up north on the Iowa border. In fact, Wisconsin got blue-er in the last election, much to my chagrin.