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Fat and stupid. This new obesity report that ranks states by relative fatness looked familiar, so I decided to put it up against the 2004 presidential election results.

Eighteen of the top twenty fattest states are red states... [scroll down a bunch of screens — my html skills are sucking]

			% Votes cast
Obesity*	State		Bush	Kerry
1	Mississippi	RED	59.6	39.6
2	Alabama	RED	62.5	36.8
3	West Virginia	RED	56.0	43.3
4	Louisiana	RED	56.7	42.2
5	Tennessee	RED	56.8	42.5
6	Michigan	BLUE	47.6	51.1
6 (tie)	(tie) Texas	RED	61.2	38.3
6 (tie)	(tie) Kentucky	RED	59.9	39.7
9	Indiana	RED	60.1	39.2
10	South Carolina	RED	59.9	38.4
11	Arkansas	RED	54.3	44.5
12	Georgia	RED	58.1	41.4
13	Ohio	RED	51.0	48.5
14	Oklahoma	RED	65.6	34.4
15	Pennsylvania	BLUE	48.6	50.8
16	North Carolina	RED	56.1	43.6
16 (tie)	(tie) Missouri	RED	53.4	46.1
16 (tie)	(tie) North Dakota	RED	62.9	35.5
19	Alaska	RED	61.8	35.0
20	Iowa	RED	50.1	49.2
20 (tie)	(tie) Nebraska	RED	66.1	32.6
22	Kansas	RED	62.2	36.5
22 (tie)	(tie) Illinois	BLUE	44.6	54.8
22 (tie)	(tie) Virginia	RED	54.0	45.3
25	Minnesota	BLUE	47.6	51.1
26	South Dakota	RED	59.9	34.8
27	Delaware	BLUE	45.8	53.3
28	Wisconsin	BLUE	49.4	49.8
29	Washington	BLUE	45.8	52.7
29 (tie)	(tie) Maryland	BLUE	43.3	55.7
31	California	BLUE	44.3	54.6
32	Maine	BLUE	44.6	53.4
32 (tie)	(tie) Nevada	RED	50.5	47.9
34	New York	BLUE	40.5	57.8
35	DC	BLUE	9.3	89.5
36	Oregon	BLUE	47.6	51.5
37	Idaho	RED	68.5	30.4
38	Florida	RED	52.1	47.1
39	New Mexico	RED	50.0	48.9
40	New Jersey	BLUE	46.5	52.7
40 (tie)	(tie) Arizona	RED	54.9	44.5
42	Wyoming	RED	69.0	29.1
43	New Hampshire	BLUE	49.0	50.3
44	Utah	RED	71.1	26.4
45	Montana	RED	59.1	38.6
45 (tie)	(tie) Vermont	BLUE	38.9	59.1
47	Connecticut	BLUE	44.0	54.3
48	Rhose Island	BLUE	38.9	59.5
49	Massachusetts	BLUE	37.0	62.1
50	Colorado	RED	52.0	46.8
(N/A)	(N/A) (Hawaii)	BLUE	45.3	54.0

I'm no statistician, but this looks like a correlation. To be fair, the thinnest state (Colorado) is a red state, but in general I think we can safely say that fat goes with stupid.

{ 1:51 PM }

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