Its bizarre how the rural/urban divide has become conservative/liberal. I guess it's not that strange though. People who live in rural areas often do so to try and lead more traditional lifestyles, ie: conservative. But the bizarre thing is that the republicans tend to pass legislation that would more benefit the urban areas, where-as the democrats tend to pass legislation that more benefits the rural areas.
On the flip side, though, I see this as a very noble thing: voting ones mind instead of their pocketbook. I hate it when people only vote for someone because it benefits themselves, personally.
It wasn't always like this though, in the 10s and 20s, many of the rural areas were champions of labor movements and socialism. West Virginia, in particular was the central stronghold of the blue-colar labor movement. Now that state is as red as they come... although I hear that there are pockets of progressive labor areas that are constantly battling against large corporation land-grabs.
How things change.