I agree that the blues course on GT lends itself to the electric guitar, though you can play blues on an acoustic. It's taught here on an electric and I think some of the bends taught would be tough to attain on an acoustic.

Many blues players play strats - SRV, Buddy Guy, Clapton, etc. However, some great blues is played on gibson guitars - BB King, Joe Bonamassa come to mind immediately.

Unless you are really trying to nail an particular artist's tone, I think the guitar choice is up to you.

I happen to own both a stat and a les paul. The main sonic difference between the two is the strat has single coil pickups and the les paul has humbuckers. The les paul won't get as twangy or trebbly sounding as a strat.

I like my strat (my first "real" electric guitar) but if I could only have one electric guitar, I would go with my les paul. It has a smaller scale size which suits my smaller stature better. The neck is slightly narrower too which I find more comfortable.

Then there's the amp...another ballgame which does impact your tone. If your budget allows, it's hard to beat the sound of a tube amp. Just like with the guitar, try different ones out and see which (combined with your guitar of choice) appeals best to you.

I found picking a guitar overwhelming enough that I put the purchase of a good amp off - I just got a small practice amp. That worked for me for years until I had the itch to upgrade. I went into the store with a Line 6 modeling amp in mind and walked out with a Peavey Valveking tube amp.

Oh, I see Jon responded already. Funny how his path followed mine. Probably pretty common since strats tend to be cheaper than les pauls. My les paul is a faded studio, so it was actually cheaper than my American Standard strat.