Calhoun and Madison counties, IL

[Sol]

Well yeah I was saying gentrification would make those areas more Republican.

Would be cool to get a full list of counties where Romney did better than Bush 2004, unsurprisingly he did in plenty of counties in the coal region in southeast Illinois, but Bush won this region in 2004 too.

The entire Upper South is an obvious start. A lot of Louisiana too. Much of West Texas too, which is rather funny given that was Bush's home region and because the Dems are always so convinced that Texas will swing their way sooner or later. Coal fields of Eastern KY/Southern WV gets the award for strongest swings. The strongest case I see after a very rudimentary comparison is Knott County, KY. Kerry won with 63% Romney won with 73%.

What's the deal with that Effingham place? Not only is it one, but it voted 75% for Romney and even voted for ALAN KEYES by 17 points. Demographically though it looks like a standard boring Midwestern town, we have hoards of similar ones as do Wisconsin and Iowa and most of those are about 55% R at worse.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10913/

Effingham is home to the world's largest cross. That might have something to do with it. Because nothing says Christianity like building a $1.7 million cross instead of feeding the hungry and healing the sick.

It also appears that Effingham was a sundown town, and may still be so.