[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

That was another slight of hand by the media. They used to use blue for whichever party won. Then they decided that red was bad ( communist association ) so they made it the permenate republican color. Never made sense to me. Everyone knows the dems are a bunch of commies.

[fieldmarshaldj]

The media “newspeak” began with the 2000 election night. The GOP stupidly refused to rebuke it. No Conservative party anywhere on the planet has “red” for its color. “Red” has always been the hallmark of the left. Fortunately, Dave Leip keeps the colors “correct” on his website...

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/

[Alberta's Child]

I don't think you're right about that. I believe TV networks alternated between the two colors, and there was often no consistency between the networks for a long time.

That all changed in 2000 when the electoral map wasn't finalized until weeks after Election Day, and viewers simply got used to the whole "red" and "blue" scheme as it stood then.