BLUEHOT

adj.

Relating to the intense anger felt by activists within the U.S. Democratic party, particularly regarding the results of the 2000 presidential election and the Florida recount (cf. "white-hot").

— blue hot n. Such a Democratic party activist.

"Among the general electorate, ordinary people who don't follow politics too much, Florida 2000 is already part of history. You may as well be talking about the Punic Wars," says Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College. "But for Democratic activists, it's very much alive."

Indeed, Professor Pitney sees the recount as sparking a "blue-hot" sentiment among the Democratic base — a reference to the intensity of the "fire" burning on the left, and the fact that these voters hail from "blue" states — that has dominated the primary battle so far.

"The Democrats are angry," he says. "The recall is a blue-hot issue; the Texas redistricting is a blue-hot issue. And of course, Dean is the blue-hot candidate."

— Liz Marlantes, "How anger over Florida recount still roils politics," The Christian Science Monitor, September 18, 2003

"Gephardt seems to be his top opponent," said John Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California. "But money and momentum make Dean the favorite. The race is not over. You can never be sure what will happen until real people cast real votes. But Dean is the candidate of the 'blue hots' — blue-state Democrats who are passionate about politics and angry about Bush."

— Scott Shepard, "Dean celebrates birthday with the confident air of presidential frontrunner," Cox News Service, November 17, 2003

While President Bush has studiously avoided taking a position on the recall, Entertainment Tonight's favorite campaign has galvanized Democratic loyalists across the country.They see it as the latest GOP effort to steal offices Republicans can't win in regular elections. Combined with the redistricting battle in Texas, the Oct. 7 recall has reignited fury pent up since the Florida recount. John J. Pitney Jr., a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College, calls the angry Dems ''blue hots,'' for the ''blue'' states carried by Al Gore in 2000.

— Richard S. Dunham, "This California wildfire is sure to singe the White House," Business Week, September 8, 2003

Here's another earliest citation cadidate:

A few years later, they worked for Fred Hofheinz's doomed comeback attempt against Mayor Kathy Whitmire, when Carville's too-real presence — showing up at suit-and-tie affairs in his high-water jeans and black Chuck Taylor All-Stars — was an affront to Hofheinz's chief money man, Joe Russo. Much has changed since then: Russo has served time in a federal pen, and Hofheinz has had troubles of his own, but Carville and Begala, after some successes electing Democrats outside of Texas, rose to the blue-hot center of power with Bill Clinton.

—Jim Simmon, "Spin Out," Houston Press, February 5, 1998

The example citation mentions "blue states" as the inspiration for the blue-hot adjective. What's a blue state?

In the 2000 U.S. presidential election, a map of the election results appeared to show America divided into two regions: the south and the heartland voted for Republican nominee George W. Bush, while the west coast and the industrial regions in the north and northeast voted for Democratic candidate Al Gore. Since Republican states are traditionally shown in red and Democratic states are shown in blue, pundits of both political stripes soon began talking of red states (2001) versus blue states (2001):

In the last election there were the red states (George W. Bush) and the blue states (Al Gore). Some see the division as between Middle America and the two coasts. Other dichotomies are cited as rural and urban, small town and big city, religious and secular.

— Suzanne Fields, "One nation united by its differences," The Times Union, June 21, 2002

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Anger and Anxiety

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