The Ross Perot air raid cratered the suburban R vote. Clinton carried these counties with Dukakis percents but big margins.
In 1996, Perot ran again, but his 9% came mostly from rural areas. The suburbs gave Clinton majorities.
In 2000, Gore + Nader overperformed Clinton in the suburbs.
In 2004, 2008, 2012, only Republican suburbs are Milwaukee and Cincinatti-Dayton, plus exurbs like Morris-Warren-Somerset-Hunterdon in NJ.
There are plenty of Republican suburbs in cities like Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Omaha, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Birmingham, Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Tampa, Lexington, Louisville, Nashville, Memphis, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Grand Rapids.
Romney narrowly won the suburban vote (
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/results/president/exit-polls).
We're fine in most Midwestern and pretty much all Southern suburbs. The GOP's problem is really the Northeastern and Western suburbs, plus perhaps the Detroit/Chicago suburbs. I think we can reach out to them on fiscal issues.
