Jonah Goldberg has an interesting political theory about dairy states.

Two possible partial historic explanations (i.e. guesses) come to mind. First, the sorts of people who historically went into dairy production were Scandinavian socialist types while the people who went into meat production were Scotch-Irish cowboy types.

Two: Perhaps dairy regulation occurred a lot earlier than meat regulation. This generated a culture of state-intervention and therefore a politics to match (or vice versa). Dairy also seems to be more about small-farmers and lots of labor, making it more prone to Populist appeals, while meat is run by wealthy ranchers and rugged cowboy types who have a more leave-me-alone ideology.

There's also a more metaphorical - i.e. b.s. - theory: dairy is nurturing. It's about sustainability. Dairy farmers can afford to fall in love with their cows. Making cows into steak, handburger and wallets requires more tough-mindedness. Dairy is soft America. Meat is hard America. Or Something Like That.

As a state-level overview, maybe this paradigm fits. The Devil is in the details. The most left-wing part of L.A. is the West Side - all the beach cities. Nary a cow to be found. Nor a steer either, for that matter.

The much more conservative Riverside County, though, is rife with diary cattle. As I always remark when driving through Chino, "You can't get air like that in the city!"

Dick says: diary cattle.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
Written in stone?

Dick, the WI equivalent of your quote is "Smell that dairy air!" (Best if read aloud with the last two words spoken in very quick succession.)

In WI farmers vote Republican and only the cities (Madison/Milwaukee) are liberal.

Doh!

Mark, pretty much the same is true of MN. Although the small towns of both states have a lot of "my dad was a Democrat, his dad was a Democrat, and I'll always be a Democrat" types who probably have to ignore parts of their party's platform to pull the lever.

There's also a more metaphorical - i.e. b.s. - theory: dairy is nurturing. It's about sustainability. Dairy farmers can afford to fall in love with their cows. Making cows into steak, handburger and wallets requires more tough-mindedness.

I don't see that. Cows that don't produce are turned into hamburgers and wallets pretty quickly. You can't afford to feed a cow if she's not bringing in revenue.