It’s the Greeks versus the Romans. This editorial from the Stranger (The Urban Archipelago, It’s the Cities, Stupid., by The Editors of The Stranger (11/11/04)) makes it clear:
The Democrats are party of cities.
The Republicans are the party of the heartland.
Grow our base, say the editors of the Stranger. Press urban issues. If the nation can be ruled from the hinterland, why can’t it be ruled by city-states (aka Blue States)?
Target the most urban red states, for example, and grow their activist and voting population in its cities.
Push issues that matter to cities and ignore rural problems, they say, in their cold urban stylee:
If red-state dads aren’t concerned enough about their own children to put trigger locks on their own guns, it’s not our problem. If a kid in a red state finds his daddy’s handgun and blows his head off, we’ll feel terrible (we’re like that), but we’ll try to look on the bright side: At least he won’t grow up to vote like his dad.