Ok, let's do some alternating. In '80 the incumbent party supposedly switched to red, so Carter was red and Reagan blue. Again, the GOP in blue. In '84 the incumbent party supposedly switched back to blue, so Reagan would be blue again.
The GOP=blue / Dem=red should've broken down in '88 when, according to your link, the incumbent party would switch to red again. Problem is that in that election the incumbent GHWB was blue and his challenger Dukakis red. So the GOP=blue designation continued unabated, as I originally stated.
