On a lazy Saturday afternoon when our local phone banking operation is regrettably closed, I thought I would pose a question for our resident historians.
I recall watching news coverage of presidential returns since the 1960s. At some point, all three of the major news organizations began using maps and coloring the states as projections were made. They were not uniform, however. Some broadcasts would use blue for Republicans and red for Democrats, while others would do the reverse.
Here is a clip from NBC coloring in a blue map for Ronald Reagan in 1980. So does anybody know when the networks decided on uniformity? How did we get blue? You know Fox would rather color us with communist red if they had a choice.
Any thoughts?