I always wondered about this; History of "Red State/Blue State"

[pepperbear]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_11/005156.php

I found this particularly interesting;


In 1976, NBC identified states won by Gerald Ford in blue and Jimmy Carter's states in red. On election night in 1980, ABC News showed Ronald Reagan's march to the White House as a series of blue lights on a map, with Carter's states in red. Time magazine assigned red to the Democrats and blue to the Republicans in its election graphics in every election from 1988 to 2000. The Washington Post's election graphics for the 2000 election were Republican-blue, Democrat-red.

[DeepBlueC]

1. In Canada the Liberals are red

and the Conservatives are blue. I always wondered why it was different.

[drm604]

2. It's often struck me as odd

that the Republicans have ended up as "red" and haven't complained about it. You would think they'd object given the strong connection between "red" and "communist". The two words were often used synonymously.

I have to believe that if it had been the other way around (Democrats were "red") they would have beaten the whole "red" = "communist" thing into the ground.

[Odin2005]

3. Which is why I think the switch is actually a good thing.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. I read here that there used to be a convention based on who was incumbent,

but that in recent times they just stuck with the current Repub Red/Dem Blue thing.

I don't think any of it used to be such a huge deal except for Bush's emphasis on extreme polarization of the country, and demonizatino of "blue" regions and states (like the San Fran bashing that occurs daily).