Nielsen released its numbers for the top 56 media markets in the country today. These metropolitan areas had the highest inauguration viewership yesterday:

And these had the lowest viewership:

So people who could most easily come see the inauguration in person — those from D.C., Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina — watched from their sofas, while people who live more than 1,000 miles away either made the trek to the capital or didn’t bother to tune in.

Even stranger, the three metropolitan areas at the bottom of this list are arguably the three most liberal in the country: Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.

I suppose it’s possible that people from the D.C. area are simply more politically engaged — much more engaged — than their counterparts from farther afield, but this still strikes me as deeply strange.

Anyone have a better explanation? I await your comments …

Will this Pacific Northwestern YouTube outreach move anyone? Well, count this blogger in. As a lifelong Seattlite, I grew up following my parents around the historic market — a community-supported zone that favors local farmers and artisans — as they bought fruit and vegetables from friendly shops like Manzo’s, or nabbed some fresh halibut. Naturally, the fish have some airborne cameos in one of the quirkier Obama videos this season: