Origins of red state/blue state
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states#Origins_of_the_color_scheme"Red states and blue states refer to those states of the United States whose residents predominantly vote for the Republican Party (red) or Democratic Party (blue) presidential candidates.
This terminology came into use in the United States presidential election of 2000 on an episode of the Today show on October 30, 2000. According to AlterNet and The Washington Post, the terms were coined by journalist Tim Russert, during his televised coverage of the 2000 presidential election.[1] That was not the first election during which the news media used colored maps to depict voter preferences in the various states, but it was the first time a standard color scheme took hold; the colors were often reversed or different colors used before the 2000 election."
My opinion? I wish they'd drop it.
= new reply since forum marked as read
...yellow birds are called pájaros amarillos, red birds are called pájaros liberales, and blue birds are called pájaros conservadores.
I don't want them to drop it.
I just want them to get it right for a change.
I still get confused whenever anybody talks about red states and blue states. I can never remember which is which, and I often get it backwards.
That way, I can pull out my old "Go Reds, Smash State" buttons without everybody thinking I'm a Teabagger.
And my country had it right until recently, also.
According to the OP, it was the result of a very recent media goofup that for some reason has stuck.
"Come the revolution, I'll buy you a new hat"
Warren Beatty---REDS
Especially since the media uses it to divide America and all it takes is for .0002% difference in the vote and the media paints the whole state bright red or bright blue and then claim the party that won OWNS that state and the other party needs to stay out, and the two parties believe that shit.
I like to point out California as an example of this crap.
Here is a state that was the home state of Nixon and who voted for him THREE TIMES (Including the Kennedy vs Nixon election of 1960), then voted for Ford, then was the home state and voted for Reagan TWICE, then voted for pappy Bush. Then it voted for Bill Clinton and all of the sudden it was "The Left Coast" and written off by Republicans forever.
I created this animated gif a while back to show the history from 1960 to 2008.
