I’ve seen maps like this before when talking about demographics… that Virginia is not suffering from a NOVA vs. ROVA split, but rather an Eastern vs. Western Virginia split.
D.J. McGuire has a post that all others posts in March 2008 should aspire towards, an independent analysis of why the Virginia GOP needs to bring itself home to economic conservative values, despite critics who suggest Virginia Republicans have veered too far to the right:
The fact is, economic conservatism – to use the popular term – has been in very short supply here in Virginia. It is the party’s appeal in the eastern part of the state. The more westerners ignore this, the less they will understand us.
Fair point, and as the values of the Golden Crescent (from Richmond, I-95 North and I-64 East) continue to dominate and shift the old coalition within the Republican Party of Virginia, it will be Eastern Virginia values that come to dominate the next 20 years.