CNN

Red State Update came to national prominence during the primary season for the 2008 presidential election. RSU's first appearance on national television was during the CNN-YouTube Democratic primary debate on July 23, 2007, which posed prerecorded, viewer-submitted questions to the candidates. Of Democrats who were entertaining the idea of former Vice-President Al Gore joining the race, Red State Update asked, "does that hurt y'all's feelings?" Joe Biden made a tongue-in-cheek observation that "I think the people of Tennessee (the home state of both Gore and the RSU pair) had their feelings hurt," prompting a video response entitled "Fightin' Joe Biden". The subsequent publicity generated led to a number of appearances on different news stations and a semi-regular spot on CNN's short-lived program Out in the Open. They gained prominence again in December 2007 when former Senator and long-shot presidential candidate Mike Gravel appeared in one of their clips as Santa Claus.

Red State Update was repeatedly referenced by CNN's offbeat reporter Jeanne Moos.