The monied burbs and 2012

[pa2011]

Loudoun is not that surprising when you also consider it's 8 percent black, 15 percent Asian, and 12 percent Hispanic. The eastern part of the county near Dulles Airport is really diversifying, rapidly.  Throw in overall left-leaning trends in Northern Virginia, not hard to fathom Obama won it, narrowly.  And these trends will continue in presidential elections. if anything, Democratic performance in Loudoun will likely only grow in future elections, despite its wealth.

Virginia Democrats problem is how do they get similar turnouts in state elections. If they can figure out how, Virginia may soon one day almost become a lean-Democratic state.

[pa2011]

Also, many of these burbs are not all subdivisions with $1 million plus homes. Increasingly, even well-off suburbs are being dotted with new apartment/condo/townhouse communities. Democratic-leaning voters often reside in them. And one thing Obama camp perfected is getting into those buildings/developments early and getting their voters out.  

If you can turn out a few mid-rise apartment complexes in say Loudoun, the number of votes out of them can quickly equal or overwhelm two or three traditional, single-family, predominately white, monied, subdivisions. And that doesn't even take into account that just cause a wealthy husband and wife are voting Republican, their college-aged kids who may live with them, very well may not be. Many suburban college-aged children often feel more connection to the values of the neighboring city. Two kids can quickly cancel out the votes of their parents.