Comments on: Here’s a question

By: jay

jay — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:02:41 +0000

NH is RED not blue

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:33:47 +0000

Well, shut MY mouth, then.

By: Joe Martin

Joe Martin — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:56:37 +0000

Sorry, ‘fraid not. The political lingo only came into use after the widely televised maps of the 2000 election. The formula has kept Republicans red and Democrats blue ever since.

By: Adam Volle

Adam Volle — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:20:52 +0000

Well.

What do I know, anyhow?

(Though formula for television broadcasting notwithstanding, political lingo still colors Democrat states "blue" and Republicans "red", aye? So does that main point not still stand?)

By: Joe Martin

Joe Martin — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:43:58 +0000

It's a nice theory, but I'm going to have to shred it. The TV networks have alternated for years between red and blue to illustrate Republican and Democrat victories.

Since the advent of color TV, there has been a formula to avoid charges of giving any party an advantage by painting it a "better" color. Here is the formula: the color of the incumbent party alternates every 4 years.

Kevin Drum, at Political Animal, has a nice table showing how that's broken down since 1976.

The real question is -- what happens in 2008, when the Republicans are scheduled to switch to blue?

By: Edward O'Connor

Edward O'Connor — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:38:17 +0000

Also, Wikipedia’s articles on US presidential elections make the switch between ‘76 and ‘80.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UnitedStatespresidentialelection%2C1976 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UnitedStatespresidentialelection%2C1980

By: Edward O'Connor

Edward O'Connor — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:35:21 +0000

As recently as the Kennedy-Nixon election, blue was used for the Republicans and red for the Democrats.