Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Do Kansas Democrats have a problem with their primary colors?

Late Tuesday, the Democratic members of the Kansas House lined up for their annual group picture in matching t-shirts.

Red t-shirts.

Of course, as anyone familiar with recent political history knows, the color red is inextricably associated with the Republican Party and blue is the property of the Democratic Party. In fact, years of election maps on TV have reinforced the associations so strongly that the terms “red state” and “blue state” are now an enduring
part of the national political lexicon.

So why were Democrats smiling for the camera wearing their adversaries’ colors?

Rep. Raj Goyle, D-Wichita offered this diving catch: “because we’re taking over red America.”

But Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, who organized the photo, said the reason for red was a lot more mundane than that. “We wear a different color every year,” she said.

Written by Dion Lefler

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hard as it is to believe, during the '70s and '80s, networks had the colors reversed on their state by state representations of presidential electoral results. I have always thought it more appropriate to color the Democrats red and the Republicans blue anyway. In that respect, the good Mr. Goyle may have the right idea.