ROBERT LANG: In 2004, the Bush campaign painted the town red—Republican red. The president swept the vote in the nation’s small towns and cities, which the U.S. Census Bureau now officially labels as “micropolitan areas” (or Micros). Bush’s micropolitan voting edge in Ohio exceeded his winning margin in the state by over 18,000 ballots. The Ohio victory gave George Bush 286 electoral votes to John Kerry’s 252, and thus the presidency.
An analysis of the 2004 vote prepared by the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech and as reported by USA Today, shows:
· Bush won micropolitan areas by a margin of 61 to 39 percent over Kerry.
· Bush’s micropolitan vote went from 57 percent in 2000 to 61 percent in 2004.
· Of 573 micropolitan areas, 474 went to Bush, while Kerry had the edge in just 99.
· Bush won 27 of Ohio’s 29 Micros.

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