In the drawing, an "ass" -- depicting the New York Herald --
scares away other animals in a forest as the elephant -- or the
Republican vote -- looks like it's about to stumble into a pit.
But that cartoon isn't where where the Democratic donkey came
from. In 1828, Democrat Andrew Jackson's critics called him a
"jackass" because of his populist views and his slogan, "Let the
people rule." Jackson decided to run with it -- even using
images of a donkey in his campaign ads. Later, Nast also used a
donkey to depict the Democratic party. Q. Why are Democratic
states "blue," and why are Republican states "red"? There's
nothing magical about this color scheme. Essentially, the media
made it up. Sure, there are logical reasons to use red and blue
-- both are colors in the American flag, and they look sharp on
infographics because they're pretty much on opposite ends of the
color spectrum. But the seemingly arbitrary color assignments
have actually flip-flopped over the years. In 1980, states won
by Republican Ronald