"the only places that went heavier for Kerry were France and San Francisco"
Ouch!!! Correct, but a really scary thought for this San Franciscan!! The attitude reflected in the article by "the really smart urban people" towards the not very bright rubes in the rest of the country is prevalent here too!
Seems like their incredible arrogance is the only real difference!
Funny that I was listening to a radio programme relay from Hong Kong this morning about the US election. An HK Chinese migrant living in San Francisco had called into a talk show and said he supported Bush (and he seemed to imply most Chinese in San Fracnisco vote heavily Bush). This astonished the usual anti-bush host and local HK Chinese.
It seems the Chinese vote could not withhold the heavily liberal white-black-other-minorities votes there.