51.   Many rural counties still have paper ballots that are marked, folded and dropped into boxes.

52.   Missouri Rep. Carol Jean Mays, an Independence Democrat who is chairwoman of the House Utilities Regulation Committee, said efforts there have run into opposition from rural counties.

53.   Officials in some rural counties said they were immediately moving to drop local hiring and contracting rules that gave advantages to women and minorities.

54.   One in four rural counties is identified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as having persistent poverty.

55.   One woman who moved to the rural county from Detroit had never before seen a tick, he said.

56.   Owens held out hope that ballots from the Indian reservations and largely Democratic rural counties would be enough to pull him over the top.

57.   Only five of the counties in Arizona now have HMO coverage, And the rural counties that do still have HMOs have cut back services.

58.   Owens said he decided to concede Friday night after the last votes came in from the Democratic-leaning rural counties.

59.   Rural counties have chronic and severe shortages of doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other health professionals.

60.   Rural counties in Pennsylvania report a similar trend.