The how and why of "Red and Blue America"

Kevin Drum digs into why red is used for Republican states and blue for Democratic ones. It's a mildly interesting analysis, for those interested in such stuff. I always assumed that red got co-opted by the Republicans because Nancy Reagan always wore red. Remember all those 1980s Republicans in their identical navy suits and red ties? That's where I figured it came from. Of course, it turns out that I'm pretty much dead wrong, which is probably why Kevin's the paid political blogger and I'm just Joe Blow With A Blog.