Tim Russert and Red State Blue State

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 5:23 PM, Sam Clements <SClements at neo.rr.com> wrote:
>
> Almost everyone, no matter their political persuasion, morns the =
> untimely death today of Tim Russert.
>
> Many stories on the Web suggest that the Washington Post credits him =
> with "coining" the 'red state' 'blue state' designation..  For the life =
> of me, I can't find that, searching the WaPo.
>
> Ben Zimmer properly offered the original usage of "red state/blue state"
> from 1908.
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0501A&L=ADS-L&P=R9102

Here's my attempt to cover what we know of the history of red/blue states:

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1430


--Ben Zimmer

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