MOBILE, Alabama – Mobile County Democrats produced more straight-ticket voters than their Republican counterparts Tuesday, and two statewide Democrats carried the county despite losing their election bids.

Meanwhile, bright-red Baldwin County actually improved on the Republican showing from four years ago.

The Democrats in Mobile lost every countywide race that was contested. But 54,681 people voted a straight Democratic ticket. That was 3,207 more than the Republican straight-ticket voting. Improving that number could make the difference between winning and losing local elections in the future, Democratic Party chairman Napoleon Bracy said.

“We believe that we actually can turn Mobile County blue, and we almost did it yesterday,” said Bracy, who also is a state representative from Prichard. “We leave a lot of votes on the table.”

Bracy said simply getting everyone who cast a ballot for President Barack Obama to also vote in the county treasurer's race would have narrowed Democratic candidate Christian Smith's deficit against Republican Phil Benson.*

“We have Democrats who can win in Mobile County,” he said.

Bracy’s Republican counterpart, Terry Lathan, was not buying it. She said Benson won his race by a healthy margin.

“That’s not close. That’s not kinda. That’s not maybe,” she said.

Lathan also pointed out that Jerry Carl trounced his Democratic opponent in a County Commission race.

And Lathan said the key point about the straight-ticket voting is not that Democrats led but that their margin shrunk from four years ago.

“They lost 1,200. We picked up 5,000,” she said. “That’s good for Republicans.”

But Bracy noted that Democrat Bob Vance carried Mobile County in his unsuccessful race against Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama Supreme Court chief justice race. In addition, Democrat Lucy Baxley barely edged Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh among Mobile County voters in the Alabama Public Service Commission race.

Lathan attributed the split-ticket voting to the Gulf Coast’s traditional independence streak.

Baldwin gets redder

In Baldwin County, Republican Mitt Romney actually improved on John McCain’s impressive showing four years ago against Obama. Romney took more than 77 percent of the vote in Baldwin, a couple percentage points higher than McCain’s total in 2008.

“We’re proud of what we did,” said Matt Simpson, chairman of the Baldwin County GOP. “We had a great organization.”

Republicans already hold every local office in Baldwin County, and with no Democrats running, Simpson said the party turned its attention to helping Romney in other areas. He said the party sent a bus of volunteers to Florida and contributed to another bus that went to Ohio.

Simpson said the party wants to make sure that Baldwin County is a place every Republican seeking office must visit.

“We try to fight that complacency” that could arise without a Democratic challenge, he said. “We want to make sure we have a good showing statewide.”

The leader of the Baldwin Democrats, Pat Siano, said she was happy that more than 18,000 residents of such a Republican-tilting county stuck with the president.

“That’s great. I’ll take it,” she said. “I want us to be a big, visible and vocal minority. And that is my goal.”

Siano said her party, too, concentrated efforts on the swing state of Florida. She said having candidates for local office is not a priority in the near term.

“I’m not worried about running people for office,” she said. “That’s not on my mind.”

Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell said the number he was pleased with on Tuesday was 75 – the percentage of voters who turned out for the election. That is an increase from 2008.

“I was hoping the county would have more than 70 percent,” he said. “I don’t believe Baldwin County’s ever had 75 percent turnout.”

The presidential race drew gobs of attention, but Russell said he thinks many people found motivation in the referendum extending a 1 percent sales tax for the school system. That measure passed with 62 percent of the vote, a larger share than it received when voters approved it in 2010.

“Everywhere I went, people standing in lines, you could tell they were there … for the school vote,” he said. “Every place I went, there were people holding up signs. I’ve never seen such a turnout for an amendment.”

*Updated at 2:12 p.m. on Nov. 8 to correct a misstatement about the size of Benson's margin of victory.