I would have to disagree. I think that the majority of the counties in CA are not all that liberal. Note that I did not say the majority of the population in CA, just the majority of the counties. I think that Los Angeles county, the San Francisco Bay Area counties, and Sacramento county pretty much dominate the rest of the state into submission with their burgeoning populations which are very liberal and very well organized.
People in the north counties openly want to split off into another state (Jefferson). They have been pushing for this since before WW2.
The not-so-liberal areas also have some of the better places open for jeeping. It seems to me that the really liberal areas don't like off- road driving and if they have any areas that would be suitable for jeeping, they close them off or severly limit access. For example, in the arguably liberal San Francisco Bay Area is Coe Park, which only allows 4x4s in once a year, while the relatively more conservative Ukiah area has the huge Cow Mountain OHV recreation area next to it which is only closed when it's too muddy and for controled burns.
A interesting series of maps is here:
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you look at the area for Austin, TX, and the blue areas to the south,they are a lot bluer than most of the counties in CA.Keep in mind that this is only mapping the 2004 election and is not aperfect indicator of conservative vs. liberal, but you can get a general feeling of who lives where. A better example of a few counties pushingthe others around is Oregon: Portland alone pretty much sent the state to Kerry.
/herb