Jenkins are, even though the novels they have co-written have sold about 40 million copies over the past few years. We don't know who Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. But don't ask us, please, what life in Red America is like. We're more sophisticated and cosmopolitan-just ask us about our alumni trips to China or Provence, or our interest in Buddhism. We in the coastal metro Blue areas read more books and attend more plays than the people in the Red heartland. You'll rarely see a Christmas store in Blue America, but in Red America, even in July, you'll come upon stores selling fake Christmas trees, wreath-decorated napkins, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer collectible thimbles and spoons, and little snow-covered villages. In Blue America the stores are small but the markups are big. In Red America the Wal-Marts are massive, with parking lots the size of state parks. In Blue America we have NPR, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and socially conscious investing. In Red America they have QVC, the Pro Bowlers Tour, and hunting. In Blue America Thai restaurants are everywhere. Different sorts of institutions dominate life in these two places.

When it comes to yard work, they have rider mowers we have illegal aliens. We have vineyard tours they have tractor pulls. Everything that people in my neighborhood do without motors, the people in Red America do with motors. People in Red America tend to live on farms or in small towns or small cities far away from the coasts.

People in Blue America, which is my part of America, tend to live around big cities on the coasts. It has also come to be known as Red America, in reference to the maps that were produced on the night of the 2000 presidential election. The place I'm talking about goes by different names.

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