Left Coast

Left Coast is a political expression implying that the West Coast of the United States is politically left-wing. The implication is that the states of California, Oregon, and Washington (particularly, the coastal counties and cities within those states) vote more often for the Democratic Party than the other states in the Western United States. This phrase plays on the fact that the west coast of the US is found on the left of the contiguous 48 states when viewing a map with north oriented upwards.

This same area is also referred to as the Wet Coast or Rain Coast because of the high annual precipitation found in many places along the coast.

In Canada, the coastal strip of British Columbia, including Vancouver Island, is also referred to as the Left Coast. The use of the term left coast is not usually pejorative. For example, at the Order of British Columbia Investiture of painter Edward John Hughes, by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, Iona Campagnolo, in April 2006 she stated, "We have all occasionally heard of our beloved coast dismissed as the 'wet coast', the 'left' coast, even the 'rain coast', yet for most of us, these are 'terms of endearment'..." .

The term is used by NewsMax.com columnist James Hirsen in his "Left Coast Report," which takes a humorous look at Hollywood and politics. It is also used by Ted Rall as the name of his left-leaning political comic strip. The term is also used by conservative Rush Limbaugh in his daily radio program.Fact|date=February 2007 With a possible left-handed compliment to Limbaugh, writer, voiceover actor and gay rights activist Ben Patrick Johnson calls his video blog "Life on the Left Coast". Pioneer fundraiser and CEO of San Francisco-based nonprofit Tides, Drummond Pike, also maintains a CEO blog entitled "Notes from the Left Coast."

ee also

* Coastal California
* East Coast liberal
* Cascadia
* History of the west coast of North America

External links

* [http://www.leftcoastreport.com James Hirsen's "Left Coast Report" website]
* [http://www.gocomics.com/rallcom Ted Rall's comics website]
* [http://blog.benpatrickjohnson.com Ben Patrick Johnson's video blog, "Life on the Left Coast"]