GOP Plants Flag on New Voting Frontier (Exurban)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-fast22nov22,0,6617098,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

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.

[Fovea]

1. Ha ha hahahaha

I don't think that $5/gal gas is going to endear the Repugs
to the exurbians. Not even 'Values' can overcome the horrible crash that is going to destroy exurbia.

Yeah, I want to see Bush's warm welcome in Olathe KS when they have to spend a third of their income on gasoline and their kids cannot go to college or find a job that doesn't involve a gun.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Exurbia is not sustainable long term, and a lot of it is, frankly,

motivated by either racism or runaway materialism.

You see, dark-skinned people are moving into the inner burbs.

The houses I see being built in exurbia are not starter homes for the impoverished, but McMansions.

The idea of subjecting one's self to spending two hours a day in the car just so you can afford to buy a monster house makes no sense whatever. First of all, to live like that, you need a car for everyone over 16--and for the price of two extra cars, you could probably afford a house closer in.

I suppose people who think exurbia makes sense also think Republicanism makes sense.