Suburbia and Urbia

Ted Nesi's 7:45 item...

But the reports I’m getting from out in the 1st District should certainly be making Cicilline’s team – and national Democrats – a little nervous.

Turnout appears to be pretty weak not only in Providence, but in other cities that are important for Cicilline to win, like Central Falls and Pawtucket. By contrast, turnout in the suburbs and on Aquidneck Island has been moderate to strong – which should boost John Loughlin.

...can't help but make me wonder if Rhode Island is a bit more connected the same trend impacting the rest of the country than is commonly thought, if Joel Kotkin was onto to something, in his recent essay on the mismatch between the Democratic party urban political strategy and American suburban demography...

In America, the dominant geography continues to be suburbia -- home to at least 60 percent of the population and probably more than that portion of the electorate. Roughly 220 congressional districts, or more than half the nation’s 435, are predominately suburban...

Now the earth is shaking under suburban topsoil -- in ways that could be harmful to Democratic prospects. “The GOP path to success,” according to a recent Princeton Survey Research Associates study of suburban attitudes, “goes right through the suburbs.”

Or maybe I'm letting the optimism that something may really be changing that Matt Allen has been expressing on WPRO (630 AM) get to me...

UPDATE:

Hmmmm. Matt Allen, Dan Yorke and Tracy Minkin of Golocal Providence discussing possibly high turnout numbers in the Blackstone Valley and Kent County...