Republicans are red and Democrats blue. But it wasn’t always that way
CNN
The idea of “red states” and “blue states” may feel deeply embedded in the symbolism of US politics, but before 2000 the colors were often the other way around.
CNN’s coverage of the 1980 US presidential election, broadcast just five months after the network’s launch, featured the analog predecessor of its now-essential election night prop: the “Magic Wall” electoral map. Visible behind a dedicated Election Desk at CNN’s Atlanta studio, the technology was far from magical (at one point, a producer is seen updating the map manually behind the anchors, his back to the camera). But as results poured in, the undeclared states changed color, one by one, until Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter turned the orange map almost entirely… blue. Over on NBC that night, newscaster David Brinkley joked that the western part of his network’s Republican-heavy map was so blue it was “beginning to look like a suburban swimming pool.” On CBS, meanwhile, Walter Cronkite told viewers that “the United States looks like it’s certainly red, white and blue… but mostly blue, tonight.” The idea that Republicans are red and Democrats are blue may, today, feel embedded in the symbolism, branding and vernacular — think “blue” states and “red” states — of US politics. But the current configuration has only been cemented in the public imagination since the 2000 US presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Until the turn of the millennium, the colors were often the “other” way around. But which you saw depended on where you got your news — and when, given that outlets sometimes switched their color-coding between elections. On that night in 1980, for instance, ABC was the outlier, showing Republicans as red, having used yellow for the party four years earlier. During the network’s 1984 election coverage, Brinkley, by then at ABC, offered a seemingly arbitrary on-air explanation for the decision: “Red, R, Reagan — that’s why we chose red.”
At Paris Fashion Week, there were luxuriously plain black dresses and coats of the kind favored by Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, models strutting down runways with theatrical flourishes, and in some cases, no cellphones in sight.
Roughly one-third of respondents – equivalent to more than 82 million Americans – said they have had to cut back on at least one daily living expense to cover their health care bills, according to a new survey.
Before South African high school students complete their final exams, they first walk the red carpet, pulling out all the stops for their celebratory matriculation, or ‘matric,’ balls. The photographer Alice Mann documented the increasingly lavish dances for five years in her new book, “The Night is Young.”
The drug leucovorin was touted by the Trump administration in September as a potential treatment for thousands of children with autism. Now, some parents and guardians of children with autism say they feel abandoned by the US Food and Drug Administration’s new stance on leucovorin.
The prescription drug leucovorin is getting a label update, though it’s not what that the US Food and Drug Administration suggested might be coming during a White House briefing in September, when officials touted the drug as a potential treatment for thousands of children with autism.
With the release of “The Bride!” we asked scholars, film curators and experts in Mary Shelley’s work why so few women have tackled the Frankenstein story — and the impact that has on how we make sense of the 200-year-old tale.
In front of the Louvre Pyramid, Eileen Gu stepped out this week wearing a set of diaphanous wings — a fitting ensemble for an Olympic athlete whose sport sends her airborne.
Meagan Johnson recently spent four days calling dozens of pharmacies around Austin, Texas, trying to fill a prescription for her son, Jack.
Evidence is mounting that the wildly popular weight-loss medicines known as GLP-1s may also hold potential for treating addiction, and the field may be on the verge of obtaining desperately needed answers through more study.
Known for her blistering pace and powerful shots, the soccer player is having a Barbie made in her likeness as the toymaker names her as role model of the year.
The Screen Actors Guild Awards are back with a new name — and a thematic dress code.
There’s growing concern that the US Department of Health and Human Services is abandoning the US Preventive Services Task Force – or pushing it into “quiet paralysis.”
An international meeting to determine the status of measles elimination in the United States has been delayed seven months, from its original date in mid-April until sometime in November.