Red states blue states

[scandal 951]

Verizon's recent ad campaign highlighting their 3G coverage map vs. AT&T made me think of the red state/blue state distinction in American politics.

Is Verizon trying to send us a subliminal message? That Republicans should choose (red) Verizon while Democrats should flock to (blue) AT&T?

Here's an interesting 'twist' :

http://vote2008.thetakeaway.org/2008/11/06...-mostly-purple/

Red state? Blue state? They’re all mostly purple

Posted November 6, 2008 by Adam Hirsch

Most media outlets rely on the familiar map of the lower 48 states, calling states “red” or “blue,” as though every person in any given state voted for the same party. The map below, showing the results of the 2008 presidential election, is laid out in this fashion.

But a map like that seems somehow wrong. Wyoming (population 515,000) takes up a lot more space on that map than, say, Delaware (population 853,00), or Manhattan (population 1,620,000). The map shows acreage; elections are based on vote totals.

So Mark Newman, physics professor at the University of Michigan, takes the county-by-county vote totals per party, and then expands or shrinks the county based on how many votes were cast there. Chicago’s Cook County, in the center of the map below, winds up dwarfing all 22 counties in Wyoming, simply based on its population.

He then goes one step farther, assigning each resized county a color shade on the spectrum between red and blue based on the proportion of Democrats and Republicans who voted.

The resulting maps may look a little odd at first, but professor Newman explains them well on his Web site. And given our nation’s history — you may recall a minor tiff called the American Civil War — it’s comforting to see that nobody in this country lives in a state that’s all-red or all-blue. (Washington, D.C., isn’t a state, last time I checked.)

[one...two...tree 2,762]

If any of those Red Peckerwoods even tried to start a civil war, we'd squash 'em like cockroaches!

What were you saying now?

[Jenn! 918]

Luke Wilson got kind of fat.

[zqt3344 21]

Kind of touchy today aren't we!

If any of those Red Peckerwoods even tried to start a civil war, we'd squash 'em like cockroaches!

What were you saying now?