>>It can be overstated, of course, and I'm sorry if I did. No state out of the 50 is 100% to 0% for either party, or even close. Still, there are pronounced tendencies.
>
>Nathaniel called me on the red vs. blue terminology this weekend. He pointed out that portraying things that way is a big part of what's wrong with politics in this country. The terminology is polarizing. So I'm going to try to cut it out.
>

Which is fine, but I make no such vow. To me the terms "red state" and "blue state" refer to well-established voting patterns, based on observable, demonstrable results. I don't believe using the terms *causes* the voting pattern any more than observing that Florida has a higher average temperature than Michigan causes it to be so.