How Democratic is YOUR County?

nice tables (4.00 / 2)

So you can see why no one cares about Salem County -- dead last in number of votes for Lautenberg even though he won here! -- but it is the most evenly divided county. So it might be a good test case on appealing to independents. Then again, may not, given its rural character.

I actually think that the split is pretty healthy for county government, at least the opposition party has some voice and knowledge of what is going on.  There are an awful lot of scandals coming out of single-party rule counties, whether Democratic or Republican.  

Frank LoBiondo Record and Jon Runyan Watch

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by: Hopeful @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 03:26:59 AM UTC

Yes, competition is good (0.00 / 0)

A high Democratic percentage says the county government ought to be good, not that it tends to be in our current political culture. The corruption enabled by one party government usually overcomes the advantages.

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by: Dvd Avins @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 16:02:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yay, Essex! (0.00 / 0)

I'm happy to see my county, Essex, at the top of the heap. I'm even prouder of my own election district (Maplewood 3 - where I am one of the two Democratic Party district leaders), where we went 81% for Obama.

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by: curmudgeon @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 03:54:37 AM UTC

I think there is (0.00 / 0)

a mistaken belief in a "Hudson County Democrat".  That is only true of the HCDO - which functions as a power-hub to keep everyone reasonably satisfied.  Everyone else is intensely parochial.  Jersey City Democrats want nothing to do with Hoboken, who want nothing to do with North Bergen or Bayonne.  

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by: Thurman Hart @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 07:07:17 AM UTC

What about non-politically? (0.00 / 0)

It's my impression that when I ask someone from Jersey City or Weehauken where in the state they're from, they're as likely to say Hudson County as their town.

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by: Dvd Avins @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 13:16:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I've never (4.00 / 1)

had someone say they were from Hudson County.  There are major rivalries at the local level.

Maybe it just depends on where you are at when you ask them.

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by: Thurman Hart @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 16:48:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

This state is in need of some serious re-districting (0.00 / 0)

For a state that has voted Democrat so heavily over the past years to have a Congressional Delegation split 8-5 is irritating.  My Union County vote for Stender got overwhelmed by the Hunterdon County folks.  Union County gets screwed because we are split into too many different Congressional Districts.  

They should be able to gerrymander the state so that it is 10-3 at worst - without even creating completely warped districts.

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by: Bardy @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 13:19:29 PM UTC

i don't know where to begin (1.00 / 1)

did you just make an educated guess at a conslusion and take it from there?

you might as well ask a question like "how white is your county" or "how rich is your county" and make a nice little table to demonstrate the rankings and then pass it off as something other than a coincidence.

WTF is happening at Blue jersey that this kind of drivel passes as front page stuff?

activist for hire.

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by: Jay Lassiter @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 14:22:41 PM UTC

What guess are you talking about? (0.00 / 0)

And what coincidence? The purpose was to provide context, for when we read about goings on in various counties. The headline is merely a hook, encouraging people's natural curiosity about how their own corners of the world fit into a larger picture.

I expect to continue from time to time to present data that will be useful both for those who wish to understand how our candidates are chosen and for those who intend to take an active part in the nomination process. I'm not sure why that disturbs you.

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by: Dvd Avins @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 14:37:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

are you "annoyed" because Camden isn't #1 or because it used Lautenberg??? (0.00 / 0)

There are all different ways to rank Democratic performance.  As someone from a relatively smaller county, I like the idea of looking at how many times statewide Democratic candidates have carried the county.  Atlantic County hasn't given a majority to a Republican since 1988 (Whitman did receive a plurality against McGreevey).

Would the information be all that different if we used Obama?

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by: Creed Pogue @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 15:40:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Obama did better in Somerset (0.00 / 0)

Perhaps that's because Zimmer is still liked there from his time in Congress. For that reason, I briefly considered using Obama.

But I think it's more likely, that the Somerset difference is that Republicans there tend to be highly educated and culturally moderate, a demographic that could not support the GOP ticket for Pres/VP this year.

And it's certain that Obama and McCain (and Palin) had higher profiles than either Lautenberg or Zimmer state-wide, so they couldn't provide as generic a test.

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by: Dvd Avins @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 15:48:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

What do with the bottom half? (4.00 / 3)

I think the table is useful because it provides context to the election results.
I'm from Somerset County, where Obama won and Lautenberg lost.  Tom Wyka and Linda Stender got crushed.  The Democratic County Freeholders lost big too.  Campaign strategies and party building strategies need to be very different in counties at the bottom of the table versus the top.  Right?  I'll start a separate diary of my own about campaign tactics in Republican dominated counties.

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by: Rszuch @ Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 23:16:56 PM UTC

That sounds like a good idea. (0.00 / 0)

Check out my 3 paragraph primer on Polywell Fusion.

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by: FogerRox @ Sat Nov 08, 2008 at 04:42:48 AM UTC

[ Parent ]