Commentary:

The last map I'll post for the 2004 election (I promise)

I found several things intriguing about this map (click for a larger image):

This map appears to be a scan from The New York Times. I got to it through a link chain I can't reassemble, so I can't give proper credit for it.


First, in general (not exclusively, I know...), outside of Texas, the major population centers tended to vote for Kerry.

Second, there were several population centers in California, a state regarded as solidly Democratic, that voted for Bush.

Third, that most major population centers in Ohio, the state that could arguably be called the state that decided the victor this election cycle, voted for Kerry, despite the state as a whole going for Bush.

Fourth, that the parts of Texas that voted for Kerry were Austin (no surprise to me, I lived there before I moved to France, Austin is "special", even for Texas...) and what is referred to as "The Valley", near the Rio Grande, which has a large Hispanic population. El Paso also went for Kerry, again a location with a large Hispanic population.

Fifth, in Arizona, Phoenix voted for Bush and Tucson voted for Kerry. Again, no big surprise for me. I lived in Phoenix during my graduate school career and noticed the marked difference between Tucson and Phoenix. Oddly enough, Sedona, the home of the 1987 "Harmonic Convergence" and of New Age crystal-worshiping moonbats, voted Bush, but Flagstaff, the home of rugged cowboys, voted Kerry.

Seventh, if you examine the Delta region of the Mississippi (eastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, and western Mississippi), with the exception of Vicksburg the area is solidly Kerry, despite being very rural, given the conventional wisdom that "rural America" now prefers Republicans in general and George W. Bush in particular. Having grown up in Memphis, Tennessee and traveling extensively through the Delta region, I find this curious, because I never thought of this region as anything but conservative in the old meaning of the word of "resisting change".

There are other curious and interesting observations, but seven is enough for this weblog. The rest are left as an exercise for the reader...