Carlsbad is located in the northern part of San Diego county California. It's a nice coastal town. San Diego is one of the few conservative counties in California- lots of military based there. It is also near the Mexican border, hence the illegal immigration concerns.
Um...excuse me. It is silly misconceptions like this that drive me up the wall. California has 58 counties. 50 of them are conservative.
Outside of central LA county and the Bay area, California is a broadly conservative place. You can drive for 12 hours and never see a "blue" county.