I still don't understand what the colors and letters in the map stand for. Can you please give a key or explain what they stand for.
Letters are codes for the months of the year in which the most recent poll has been taken. A is for January, B is for February... I is for September, J is for October, K is for November, and L will be for December. I have an asterisk for some small states that I can't remember the date of the last poll, but it seems consistent with Election 2008 and the state's electoral history. Hawaii and Rhode Island are the only two that fit that category, and a Republican wins those two only in a monumental (48- or 49-state, as in 1984) landslide. "Z" is for a state that hasn't been polled for more than six months; of those the only one that I have in color is Oklahoma, a state that would go to the Democrats only in something like a 45-state landslide.
I think using the letters as codes is a bad idea because the problem is that it's hard to remember which month is which letter. For example, I have to think in my head for a few minutes which letter November is.
Instead a better idea is to simply abbreviate the months.
