John Cusack took over 600 hours of skiing lessons in preparation for this movie. The 600 hours is equivalent to fifteen 40 hour weeks.
The name of the TV station that was covering the political election was WVIT Connecticut, which is a real life television station. The call letters for the station are still WVIT, but the marketing name and the name it is known as on the air is now NBC Connecticut (as of 2021).
The congressional district political region that Peter Burton (John Cusack) was running in was the Connecticut 4th District which is, as mentioned in the film, known as the "Gold Coast." This is an actual electoral region in Connecticut.