Red vs. Blue

Given my proclivity for Red and Blue numbers (see “Topics,” left), I’m not sure how I missed this until now. On 1/30, the NYT ran an Op/Ed by Gore’s former speechwriter Daniel Pink on th subject:

You might expect that in the 2000 presidential election, Republicans, the party of low taxes and limited government, would have carried the Giver states — while Democrats, the party of wild spending and wooly bureaucracy, would have appealed to the Taker states. But it was the reverse. George W. Bush was the candidate of the Taker states. Al Gore was the candidate of the Giver states.

Consider:

78 percent of Mr. Bush’s electoral votes came from Taker states.

76 percent of Mr. Gore’s electoral votes came from Giver states.

Of the 33 Taker states, Mr. Bush carried 25.

Of the 16 Giver states, Mr. Gore carried 12.

AB