Take this for what you will...

I mulled over the Florida voting fraud story I don't believe to be true a little bit more because I truly, honestly want it to be true. So for the small counties (20,000 or under population) that voted Republican but have high rates of registration for Democrats, I took their voting data from 1996, 2000, 2004. I took down who they voted for, how many votes were recorded for the candidates, and then added "REP +####" totals the years 2000 and 2004, to see how many votes the Republicans gained from the previous years. [I actually don't have MS Word installed on my laptop right now, or any real word processor, and I'm too lazy to dig out the install CD. So I couldn't save it into table format and it's gonna look messed up, so... Deal. Or download the easier to read RTF file.]

Baker
1996: REP - 3,686 DEM - 2,273 PEROT - 667
2000: REP - 5,611 DEM - 2,392 NADER - 53 REP +1,925
2004: REP - 7,738 DEM - 2,180 REP +2,127

Bradford
1996: REP - 4,039 DEM - 3,356 PEROT - 819
2000: REP - 5,416 DEM - 3,075 NADER - 84 REP +1377
2004: REP - 7,553 DEM - 3,244 REP +2137

Calhoun
1996: REP - 1,717 DEM - 1,794 PEROT - 630
2000: REP - 2,873 DEM - 2,156 NADER - 39 REP +1,156
2004: REP - 3,780 DEM - 2,116 REP +907

Columbia
1996: REP - 7,588 DEM - 6,691 PEROT - 1,970
2000: REP - 10,968 DEM - 7,049 NADER - 258 REP +3,380
2004: REP - 16,753 DEM - 8,029 REP +5,785

DeSoto
1996: REP - 3,275 DEM - 3,222 PEROT - 966
2000: REP - 4,256 DEM - 3,321 NADER - 157 REP +981
2004: REP - 5,512 DEM - 3,910 REP +1,256

Dixie
1996: REP - 1,399 DEM - 1,734 PEROT - 653
2000: REP - 2,697 DEM - 1,827 NADER - 75 REP +1,298
2004: REP - 4,433 DEM - 1,959 REP +1,736

Franklin
1996: REP - 1,563 DEM - 2,096 PEROT - 878
2000: REP - 2,454 DEM - 2,047 NADER - 85 REP +891
2004: REP - 3,472 DEM - 2,400 REP +1,018

Gilchrist
1996: REP - 1,939 DEM - 1,985 PEROT - 841
2000: REP - 3,300 DEM - 1,910 NADER - 97 REP +1,361
2004: REP - 4,934 DEM - 2,016 REP +1,634

Glades
1996: REP - 1,361 DEM - 1,530 PEROT - 521
2000: REP - 1,841 DEM - 1,442 NADER - 56 REP +480
2004: REP - 2,443 DEM - 1,718 REP +602

Gulf
1996: REP - 2,430 DEM - 2,480 PEROT - 1,054
2000: REP - 3,553 DEM - 2,398 NADER - 88 REP +1,123
2004: REP - 4,794 DEM - 2,398 REP +1,241

Hamilton
1996: REP - 1,520 DEM - 1,735 PEROT - 406
2000: REP - 2,147 DEM - 1,723 NADER - 37 REP +627
2004: REP - 2,792 DEM - 2,260 REP +645

Hardee
1996: REP - 2,928 DEM - 2,417 PEROT - 851
2000: REP - 3,765 DEM - 2,342 NADER - 75 REP +837
2004: REP - 5,047 DEM - 2,148 REP +1,282

Hendry
1996: REP - 3,855 DEM - 3,855 PEROT - 1,135
2000: REP - 4,747 DEM - 3,240 NADER - 104 REP +892
2004: REP - 5,756 DEM - 3,960 REP +1,009

Holmes
1996: REP - 3,249 DEM - 2,312 PEROT - 1,208
2000: REP - 5,012 DEM - 2,177 NADER - 94 REP +1,763
2004: REP - 6,410 DEM - 1,810 REP +1,398

Jackson
1996: REP - 7,189 DEM - 6,667 PEROT - 1,602
2000: REP - 9,139 DEM - 6,870 NADER - 138 REP +1,950
2004: REP - 12,115 DEM - 7,552 REP +2,976

Jefferson
1996: REP - 1,851 DEM - 2,544 PEROT - 393
2000: REP - 2,478 DEM - 3,041 NADER - 76 REP +627
2004: REP - 3,298 DEM - 4,134 REP +820

Lafayette
1996: REP - 1,166 DEM - 829 PEROT - 316
2000: REP - 1,670 DEM - 789 NADER - 26 REP +504
2004: REP - 2,460 DEM - 845 REP +790

Levy
1996: REP - 4,299 DEM - 4,938 PEROT - 1,774
2000: REP - 6,863 DEM - 5,398 NADER - 285 REP +2,564
2004: REP - 10,408 DEM - 6,073 REP +3,545

Liberty
1996: REP - 913 DEM - 868 PEROT - 376
2000: REP - 1,317 DEM - 1,017 NADER - 19 REP +404
2004: REP - 1,927 DEM - 1,070 REP +610

Madison
1996: REP - 2,195 DEM - 2,794 PEROT - 578
2000: REP - 3,038 DEM - 3,015 NADER - 54 REP +843
2004: REP - 4,196 DEM - 4,048 REP +1,158

Okeechobee
1996: REP - 3,418 DEM - 4,826 PEROT - 1,666
2000: REP - 5,057 DEM - 4,589 NADER - 131 REP +1,639
2004: REP - 6,987 DEM - 5,151 REP +1,930

Taylor
1996: REP - 3,188 DEM - 3,583 PEROT - 1,140
2000: REP - 4,058 DEM - 2,649 NADER - 59 REP +870
2004: REP - 5,466 DEM - 3,049 REP +1408

Union
1996: REP - 1,636 DEM - 1,388 PEROT - 435
2000: REP - 2,332 DEM - 1,407 NADER - 33 REP +696
2004: REP - 3,396 DEM - 1,251 REP +1064

Wakulla
1996: REP - 2,933 DEM - 3,056 PEROT - 1,091
2000: REP - 4,512 DEM - 3,838 NADER - 149 REP +1,579
2004: REP - 6,777 DEM - 4,896 REP +2,265

Washington
1996: REP - 3,524 DEM - 2,992 PEROT - 1,287
2000: REP - 4,995 DEM - 2,798 NADER - 93 REP +1,471
2004: REP - 7,368 DEM - 2,912 REP +2,373

There it is, all the data in it's unbiased, nonpartisan glory. Which means it's open to interpretation. Unfortunately, compiling this table has only convinced me further to stick with my guns -- I still don't think we have a story here. While the Republicans gained thousands of votes in these small counties, the votes from 1996 and 2000 clearly show that these counties haven't leaned towards the Democrats in the past 8 years, despite how their voters are registered. Many of the gains Republicans made in 2000 can be directly attributed to the absence of Perot from the ballot, because Nader really didn't fare well in these counties. And we do have to accept the fact that Bush had a strong candidacy in 2004, which helps the further jump in Republican votes for these counties. When you look at the "REP +####" columns for each county, their vote spike in 2000 makes the 2004 spike seem like a more modest continuation of the way things were headed. Most were leaning GOP in 1996, and went GOP in 2000... We weren't going to win them.

But, like I said, the statistics themselves are nonpartisan, so interpret them how you wish.