UPDATED
I learned a new word today. "Oh boy, vocabulary time!" No , an actual newly coined word: metrocrats. Matt McNeil mentioned it on his show on KTNF, a Twin Cities liberal talk radio station (yes, we actually have one of the last ones of those here). He was quoting some Minnesota GOP legislator (live broadcast, I tuned in just AFTER he said who it was) who was using it to widen the metro/rural gap. The fact you're reading this tells me you get all the implications of “metrocrat” without me having to explain them to you.
Much as I hate deliberately dividing people along regional or any other lines, I'll admit: clever word. Expect to hear it more. It will work with the GOP base. On the plus side, you know what he really wanted to do was attack the central cities, not the suburbs, so good for us whenever the GOP fails this linguistic challenge and attacks "the cities" or the "metro area" because they're telling suburbanites "you're one of THOSE people". It's important for us to remember that the struggle for state legislatures and US House is largely playing out in suburbs. When we say "metro/rural" we're including the suburbs, but when we say "urban/rural", we're really saying "pick between two sides you don't really identify with." So, for example, “Republicans are trying force open the METRO/rural divide because they think they do better when people are angry at each other.”
The Twin Cities was later to the trend of bluing suburbs than most metro areas, just as Minnesota was later than most states to the reddening of rural areas --- but we certainly are typical now. So if Republicans want to attack the suburbs that used to be their base, then remember to never interrupt your opponents when they're making a mistake.
UPDATE:
I found the source the talk radio host was referring to before I tuned in. It came not from a legislator, but a GOP marketing specialist (pretty obvious from his word choices) writing a guest column in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He is in St. Cloud, a medium size city in day-trip distance of the Twin Cities, and basically ragging on Minneapolis for things like not being friendly enough to bigots. Doesn’t mean it’s not worth getting a look at how Republicans are communicating as they try to widen the metro/rural divide.