Prior to the 2000 presidential election, there was no universally recognized color scheme to represent political parties in the US. Color-based schemes became widespread with the adoption of color television in the 1960s and nearly ubiquitous with the advent of color in newspapers. A three color scheme — red, white and blue, the colors of the U.S. flag — makes sense, and the third color, white, is useful in depicting maps showing states that are “undecided” in the polls and in election-night television coverage. Continuare →