Election Maps

I find it really interesting to look at the election maps that are split down by county (zoom in to get the county results). The locations of pockets of blue in seas of red and vice versa are fascinating.
What makes a town primarily blue or red? Does it have to do with the industry that was originally there? Or maybe it's the landscape?
I like finding states like Idaho, where the entire state is fairly red (~72% McCain to ~26% Obama), but there's one county smack dab in the middle of the state that's pretty blue (~66% to ~32%). None of the major cities in the state are nearby, and I think the highway might be outside or on the border of this county, Blaine County. So what's the story with this place? I read a bit in wiki and the only thing of interest was the fact that the median cost of a home was about twice the state's. Why so costly?
Or how about Park County, Wyoming? Oh, this is where Jackson Hole is, and Grand Teton National Park, almost half of Yellowstone. And it has the second highest per capita income in the US at, not quite $100K a year; beaten only by Manhattan. I thought rich people loved republicans? Or is this year an exception? And why is their income so much higher?
This next one was totally unexpected. In a sea of rather hard red (65% McCain to 30% Obama) there's one hard blue county. Sioux County, North Dakota. It's 100% an Indian reservation, and it only has a population of 4,000.
If I ever decided to move randomly, this is probably partly how I'd do it. I think I like my pockets of liberalism, and I'm not quite sure I would want to give that up.

Here's another interesting map tool with tons of data to visually explore with. The interface isn't as a bit clunky though.