Have to disagree with the third item on your list. Anne Arundel County was the largest MD county to go for Bush in 2000, and it went for Ehrlich almost 2-1. Heck, I remember some precincts that gave Ehrlich something like 900 votes and KKT something like 70. Its legislative delegation is nearly split. Its county council is 4-3 GOP. Relatively speaking, AA is part of the solution, not the problem.