On such a winter's day
Jan. 24th, 2011 03:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyranoYep. Still up. Happy to be here, Ted. Always a pleasure.
Anyway. I just wanted to say that anybody who refers to California as 'the bluest of blue states' may possibly be aware of its general geographic location, but probably doesn't actually know anything about California. Most of you already know this, and can move on to the next post. (They have pictures of cute baby hedgehogs!)
Oregon may be slightly bluer than California. (Public beaches, one of the first bottle return laws, commie stuff like that.) But they're both similar in basic political overlay. You have a limited number of more densely populated areas that tend to vote strongly democratic--in Oregon it's Portland, Eugene, cities along the Willamette Valley, and in California it's along the coast from north to central California, along with the area around Tahoe. The rest of the state is more sparsely populated and tends to vote strongly Republican--the high desert in the east of Oregon, the central valley in California, etc. There are exceptions of course (Orange County, I'm looking at you) but in the end, despite statewide contests generally favoring Democrats, it's only because of our winner-take-all system and a few percentage points. And, as southern California goes more and more Republican, that 'bluest of blue states', that socialist house of ill repute, may become a crimson cesspit of wingnuttery in a single election day.
Anyway. I just wanted to say that anybody who refers to California as 'the bluest of blue states' may possibly be aware of its general geographic location, but probably doesn't actually know anything about California. Most of you already know this, and can move on to the next post. (They have pictures of cute baby hedgehogs!)
Oregon may be slightly bluer than California. (Public beaches, one of the first bottle return laws, commie stuff like that.) But they're both similar in basic political overlay. You have a limited number of more densely populated areas that tend to vote strongly democratic--in Oregon it's Portland, Eugene, cities along the Willamette Valley, and in California it's along the coast from north to central California, along with the area around Tahoe. The rest of the state is more sparsely populated and tends to vote strongly Republican--the high desert in the east of Oregon, the central valley in California, etc. There are exceptions of course (Orange County, I'm looking at you) but in the end, despite statewide contests generally favoring Democrats, it's only because of our winner-take-all system and a few percentage points. And, as southern California goes more and more Republican, that 'bluest of blue states', that socialist house of ill repute, may become a crimson cesspit of wingnuttery in a single election day.