It may be harder for the FSP to be successful in states dominated by large cities. In large cities it may be more difficult and expensive to gain office in the city government (harder to win in a city of 100,000 than in a city of 10,000). The mayors of large, dominant cities have a disproportionate influence within a state. A state government may seem to cater to the large dominant city at the expense of smaller towns.
Most people in large cities also may be more communitarian by their nature or temperment or they wouldn’t be living in a large city but would be in small towns instead - even if they have to commute. The individualist or libertarian culture may have stiffer resistance in large cities and in states dominated by large cities.
In the following tables in this and following posts, I’ve tabulated the population of the largest cities and counties in each of the FSP’s candidate states and ranked the states by the percentage of their population in large cities and by urban and rurall, farm and nonfarm populations as per US Census 2000 data.
Among the states being considered by the FSP, “large†could mean anything over ten or thirty thousand people (Vermont’s largest city had 38,889 people in 2000). For us small town folks “large†may mean anything over ten thousand people. But for others who are used to cities of a million people a "decent" sized city must have at least 50,000 people.
Percentage of state population in cities of more than 25,000 people.
(See following posts for the list of cities included in these numbers)
6% Vermont (38,889 of 608,827)
10% Maine (131,412 of 1,274,923)
11% West Virginia (196,223 of 1,808,344)
17% Delaware (133,346 of 783,600)
23% New Hampshire (289,643 of 1,235,786)
24% South Dakota (183,582 of 754,844)
26% Wyoming (129,859 of 493,782)
32% Montana (290,771 of 902,195)
36% North Dakota (232,019 of 642,200)
39% Idaho (500,623 of 1,293,653)
51% Alaska (321,218 of 626,932)
Percentage of state population in cities of more than 13,000 people.
(See following posts for the list of cities included in these numbers)
12% Vermont (71,995 of 608,827)
17% Delaware (133,346 of 783,600)
21% Maine (266,010 of 1,274,923)
28% New Hampshire (349,401 of 1,235,786)
34% Montana (304,994 of 902,195)
37% Wyoming (184,017 of 493,782)
38% South Dakota (288,943 of 754,844)
43% Idaho (556,418 of 1,293,653)
46% North Dakota (295,214 of 642,200)
51% Alaska (321,218 of 626,932)
Ranked by absolute number of people in such small cities and towns with LESS than 13,000 people. because they are the most likely allies of the absolute number of 20,000 FSP members (and because ranking by percent would be the same order as listed above and different ways of looking at data can provide different information)
1,008,913 Maine (79% of 1,274,923)
886,385 New Hampshire (72% of 1,235,786)
737,235 Idaho (57% of 1,293,653)
650,254 Delaware (83% of 783,600)
597,201 Montana (66% of 902,195)
536,832 Vermont (88% of 608,827)
465,901 South Dakota (62% of 754,844)
346,986 North Dakota (54% of 642,200)
309,765 Wyoming (63% of 493,782)
305,714 Alaska (49% of 626,932)
After gaining a foothold with a smaller elective office
If the jump from a small local elective office to a larger state office is too difficult, there is another layer of local government between states and their small cities, townships, and towns. FSP'ers who gain elective seats in small towns may be able to "graduate" to seats in county governments or larger cities before making the jump to a state legislative seat (example: our districts' state senator and our state representative were prior county commissioners - and one is now bidding for Congress). Even LP state officers and ex-officers are finally realizing this. See this thread.
http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?board=20;action=display;threadid=442;start=30Note...
Though "towns" in many places are small cities or large villages. "Towns" in New England are almost rural sub-counties and are similar to "townships" elsewhere. Thus even in the most populous counties of New England, there are numerous such towns just as there are townships (and township offices) in other counties in other states. For example: Hillsborough county in New Hampshire contains the large city of Manchester but it also has 29 towns -- two of which have about 25,000 people and one only 200 people. Similarly Maine's Cumberland County contains the city of Portland but also 24 towns of which one has about 22,000 people, one has about 200, and one -- Frye Island -- which is a secessionist independent town! See this link for the enabling state law which Maine passed.
http://www.fryeisland.com/sec/sec-law.htmThe population to be campaigned to is a comparative measure of the difficulty in jumping from a small town, township or city to the next level in a county government. Higher level seats in the governments of very populous counties (or cities in the posts above) may be quite difficult to gain -- especially if they have more than 50,000 people. On the other hand, once a seat such as mayor, commissioner, treasurer, etc. are gained in such a large city or county, the jump to a state seat is much smaller or even perhaps a downward move such as mayor of Boise or Anchorage down to state representative. In comparing states perhaps a feature to look for is a lot of potential seats in mid-level governments which are truly mid-level -- easy to reach from below and easy to step up from to state seats.
The following posts address that by looking at the most populous and least populous cities and counties and the percentage of urban and rural, farm and nonfarm.
States ranked by the most populous counties.WYOMING
Laramie County: 81,607
Natrona County: 66,533
Total of 148,140 which is 30% of 493,782
NORTH DAKOTA
Cass County: 123,138
Burleigh County: 69,416
Grand Forks County: 66,109
Ward County: 58,795
Total of 317,458 which is 49% of 642,200
MONTANA
Yellowstone County: 129,352
Missoula County: 95,802
Cascade County: 80,357
Flathead County: 74,471
Gallatin County: 67,831
Lewis and Clark County: 55,716
Total of 503,529 which is 56% of 902,195
VERMONT
Chittenden County: 146,571
Rutland County: 63,400
Washington County: 58,039
Windsor County: 57,418
Total of 325,428 which is 53% of 608,827
SOUTH DAKOTA
Minnehaha County: 148,281
Pennington County: 88,565
Total of 236,846 which is 31% of 754,844
ALASKA (no counties but, instead, "boroughs")
Anchorage Borough: 260,283
Fairbanks North Star Borough: 82,840
Matanuska-Susitna Borough: 59,322
Total of 402,445 which is 64% of 626,932
MAINE
Cumberland County: 265,612
York County: 186,742
Penobscot County: 144,919
Kennebec County: 117,114
Androscoggin County: 103,793
Aroostook County: 73,938
Oxford County: 54,755
Total of 946,873 which is 74% of 1,274,923
IDAHO
Ada County: 300,904
Canyon County: 131,441
Kootenai County: 108,685
Bonneville County: 82,522
Bannock County: 75,565
Twin Falls County: 64,284
Total of 763,401 which is 59% of 1,293,653
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Hillsborough County: 380,841
Rockingham County: 277,359
Merrimack County: 136,225
Strafford County: 112,233
Grafton County: 81,743
Cheshire County: 73,825
Belknap County: 56,325
Total of 1,118,551 which is 91% of 1,235,786
DELAWARE (only three counties in the state)
New Castle County: 500,265
Sussex County: 156,638
Kent County: 126,697
Total of 783,600 which is 100% of 783,600