I'm a Huntsville native, and my father was one of those rocket scientists. I'm here to tell you that the city is a bastion of Protestant southern conservatism, and that those rocket scientists are overwhelmingly conservative. So I'm not sure how the author reaches her conclusion. Possibly lack of research.
As a native Louisianian and now living in Georgia, I have never felt any states were truly south except the Deep South, Old South, however you want to say it. Unless you were from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, or Georgia, you were a Yankee to me!
No relevance to article really, I am just sayin :)