One reason is that in the early primaries, the candidates were appealing to largely rural and suburban constituencies.

He was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 1979 to 2004, representing the suburban Vancouver-area constituency of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party.

The election was marked by no uniform national swing, with suburban and rural constituencies showing large swings from Labour to the Conservatives, but urban seats showing much smaller swings.

Mr. Gage's election reflects his skill at creating an alliance between board members who represent conflicting urban and suburban constituencies, Mr. Gottlieb said.

An informal group of over 70 Republican members of the United States House of Representatives with primarily suburban constituencies, founded by Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL).

A suburban constituency, it includes Tegel airport, currently Berlin's main airport, together with a number of Berlin lakes.

However, Jimmy Carter-a new kind of Democrat answering to a new upper-middle-class, suburban constituency, embarrassed by industrial unions and enamored with the alleged magic of the market-did not.

It believes that such an education campaign in the lawmakers' districts will turn their moderate suburban constituencies against them.

Increasingly, then, the Conservative party is becoming a party that draws its support predominantly from the South of England, from the rural and suburban constituencies, and from home-owners.

Robert Shapiro is vice president of a Washington research group that specializes in developing centrist policies for Democrats with suburban constituencies.