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abstract
In a spectroscopic survey of 56 intrinsically faint, steep-spectrum quasars, we detected an excess of quasars with associated \MgII\ absorption line systems, in which $z_{abs} \approx z_{em}$. This is in contrast to other surveys using apparent magnitude selected samples which have found no such excess above the background expected from distributed absorbers. In our sample there is a strong correlation between very red rest-frame B-V colors of the quasar and the presence of associated \MgII\ absorption. In order to further understand this result, we have obtained deep R-band images of two of the red quasars (3C\,68.1 and 3C\,212) and begun a spectroscopic survey of quasars selected for very red B-V color. In 3C\,68.1 ($z=1.24$), we observe a prominent extension outside the quasar point source, and what is most likely a foreground cluster. Spectroscopy of three faint red quasars revealed no associated \MgII\ absorption lines. The implications of these results are discussed.
