I can't help but wonder whether Red America is a reference to certain states' voting habits or instead to a national blogging embarrassment.

Ben Domenech signed off his latest post, stamped 2:10 p.m. on March 23, with the words, "Now, back to your regular dose of Red America."

If ever.

My bet is someone -- a certain someone who stumbled, and I mean that, into one of the best blogging gigs in the country -- has been spending the day enduring quite an unpleasant series of conference calls.

[Post-publication addendum: Well, that was quick and that was that: From new media star to plain old-fashioned nobody in under 72 hours. The Washington Post reports Domenech has resigned, according to a statement by Executive Editor Jim Brady: "In the past 24 hours, we learned of allegations that Ben Domenech plagiarized material that appeared under his byline in various publications prior to washingtonpost.com contracting with him to write a blog that launched Tuesday. An investigation into these allegations was ongoing, and in the interim, Domenech has resigned, effective immediately. . . . We appreciate the speed and thoroughness with which our readers and media outlets surfaced these allegations. Despite the turn this has taken, we believe this event, among other things, testifies to the positive and powerful role that the Internet can play in the the practice of journalism."]

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