Iowa's population is 61% urban. Does this surprise you?

[angus]

hippie organic farmers

Lots of organic farmers in Iowa, but they're not hippies.  I used to think of Iowa as monocultural commercial farming, and to a large extent that's true, but there are plenty of small farmers there.  One thing that struck me is how very well educated most of them are.  They were always encouraging us to "Buy local!" with the pasties and posters on telephone polls and postcards in the mail, so we went to lots of farmers' markets.  When I'd get into conversations with them it was always like, "These are great, did you study agriculture or something?"  "Well, no, I have a PhD in physics and my wife has a PhD in English Literature, but we have been farming full-time for ten years now so we know what we're doing."  Or, "Well, we don't farm full-time.  I'm a cardiologist but I put as much time as I can into it in the summer."  All the farmers I asked had at least four-year university degrees, and many of them had graduate degrees as well.  I don't think it's like that everywhere.

[HoosierPoliticalJunkie]

If you can't understand why Iowa has such a high proportion of white liberal voters, then you probably are thinking of "white liberals" as exclusively as like the stereotypical resident of San Francisco or like hippie organic farmers. If you interviewed a bunch of people in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids or Davenport about gay marriage, tax rates, health care, the environment and marijuana, and then a bunch of people somewhere like southeast Minneapolis/southwest St. Paul or Madison, WI, you'd find that the views expressed would be pretty similar. The Iowa cities might have more conservatives in general, but the median voter is going to be someone with generally liberal views on all those issues.

(I didn't mention Iowa City because that's actually closer to San Francisco or west central Minneapolis.)

This is important.  A liberal town doesn't necessarily have to "look" strange or have a bunch of vegans and crazies.  A liberal town is one where the residents agree with liberal policies. 

Iowa is well-educated, middle-income, and consists of small towns and agricultural areas.

[opebo]

"These are great, did you study agriculture or something?"  "Well, no, I have a PhD in physics and my wife has a PhD in English Literature, but we have been farming full-time for ten years now so we know what we're doing."  Or, "Well, we don't farm full-time.  I'm a cardiologist but I put as much time as I can into it in the summer."  All the farmers I asked had at least four-year university degrees, and many of them had graduate degrees as well.  I don't think it's like that everywhere.

No in most places those types are driving taxi cabs or waiting tables.

[angus]

those types are driving taxi cabs

That could be fun.   ¡Quiero ser taxista!

[opebo]

Yes, I tried it for a while, it was great fun, angus.  One of the few times I've actually had to interact with real live poor people - an important education.

[Torie]

If you can't understand why Iowa has such a high proportion of white liberal voters, then you probably are thinking of "white liberals" as exclusively as like the stereotypical resident of San Francisco or like hippie organic farmers. If you interviewed a bunch of people in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids or Davenport about gay marriage, tax rates, health care, the environment and marijuana, and then a bunch of people somewhere like southeast Minneapolis/southwest St. Paul or Madison, WI, you'd find that the views expressed would be pretty similar. The Iowa cities might have more conservatives in general, but the median voter is going to be someone with generally liberal views on all those issues.

(I didn't mention Iowa City because that's actually closer to San Francisco or west central Minneapolis.)

In other news, Iowa is not a pot friendly place. I was a guest of the Winterset jail on a pot possession bust. The police chap was kind enough to drive me, with me next to him in the front seat, to the ATM to post the bail money, and pay for the car towing charge. The amazing thing is that you lose you license for six months for a pot possession bust, even if it had nothing to do with driving. I worked the system, and plea bargained down to a $600 fine, for possession of paraphernalia  (however you spell that).  

The police chief of Winterset emailed me today (he made it clear what his station was in life), to inquire about buying some land from the family "land empire" there, as it were. I emailed him back, and in passing, noted about 18 months prior,  I appreciated being chauffeured by one of his "staff" to the ATM to secure the bail money, and found the Winterset jail cells in good order (even though no one bothered to lock the door once I was sequestered there).  In his email back, he stuck to business. He  is probably not quite used to that kind of email.  

So Iowa is not quite up to date in Kansas City when it comes to pot, but they kind of know it. And so it goes.