Amen!
Your locale puts you in Iowa if I'm not mistaken. My work takes me up there frequently (around the axis from Des Moines to Ft. Dodge and over to Waterloo).
What I can't understand is how those otherwise good, salt-of-the-earth people are so danged liberal! I know the Des Moines Register is extremely hard left and is the default paper of record for the entire state. Being from Texas, I get a lot heat up there from many in Iowa. They can't understand why I'm opposed to Obama and his programs, notably his socialist healthcare that he foisted on an unwilling America. They also think we Texans are Neanderthals because of our support for the death penalty.
Maybe it's just the luck of the draw -- but my experience, by and large, is the Iowa has a lot more liberals than it should have given the demographics. Can you please tell me if I've just been running into the wrong folks or is there merit in my observations?
I think it may be some of both. I’d call Iowa a purple state. It’s neither red nor blue but this year it is expected to turn red. We have a lot of Independents.