Oooh, you guys finally noticed!
Ah, but technically, the way jim defined it, most of that cluster is south of the line. 
A lot of what you're saying makes sense though. Still leaves me wondering why Clinton actually *won* so much of it (he didn't do too hot in ranching country further north), though... then again the ranchers there came originally from elsewhere, I suppose...
I'm recalling an interview with someone in King County, Texas, which was McCain's strongest county in the country, last November or December, who said something along the lines of, "Actually, everyone here is a Democrat." Shall we launch into a rendition of a certain song from Fiddler on the Roof?
(Although actually King didn't vote for Clinton in 1992, so whatever. The counties around it did.)
