Bob Arnold tells Lisa that there are "quite a few women senators", but Lisa responds that there are only two. At the time of this episode's airing there were indeed only two female senators, Nancy Kassebaum Baker and Barbara Mikulski. Less than a month after this episode aired, the sexual harassment allegations of Anita Hill during the Senate confirmation for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas drew nationwide attention to the lack of women in the Senate. In the 1992 elections, dubbed the "Year of the Woman", the number tripled from two to six.
Matt Groening named this as one of his favorite episodes of the earlier seasons because he thought it took the show to another level.
Then-President George Bush is featured briefly in this episode, and is portrayed in a positive, albeit hokey, light. Shortly after this episode aired, Bush disparaged the show in a speech. Thus, Bush appears in four later episodes (one of which is Two Bad Neighbors (1996)) in a much more negative light.
In Dulles Airport, there is a sign reading "Bus Info" and then a phone number. This was the real phone number of the shows' Art Director, and was drawn there without his knowledge.
In keeping with the mystery of which state Springfield is in, this episode gives misleading clues. The map shown during the essay reading montage shows Springfield's state as being NT. The junk mail Homer receives shows the state as TA, and an enigmatic 6-digit zip code of 192005.