When my granddaughter was scheduled to go to Oklahoma City with her softball team, all I remembered about that state was the terrorist attack on the Murrah Building. It turns out Oklahoma City is a baseball city, full of history of the sport. The flat terrain is perfect for baseball. So, if you love baseball, you could go to OK City just for that and ignore the rest of the state.

Sure, there are bumpkins here in the outlands, but Madison is cool - at least the population is - and there are many enlightened folks scattered among the rubes. Between having the gov race in the off year, and beating up on Madison and Milwaukee in the rest of the state, the repugs eke out a slight advantage over a long neglected and depleted state dem party, and only with massive outside spending and almost complete stacking of the deck in their favor. I suspect there are people in OK or any other state that's been sold out from under its citizens by their gop crooks who will tell you the same thing.

east to west, avoiding teabag govs. And I'm not sure that's the right litmus test. Take Nebraska, for example. Horribly rightwing gov (Ricketts, via Ameritrade) and a mostly Republican legislature. Well, that leg voted to end the death penalty, even overrode the gov's veto. (Now we have to vote on this in November.) Another example, the roads got so bad that Repub legislature voted to increase the gas tax to fix the roads. Again, overrode the gov on this.

The interstate (80) splices Nebraska east to west. You kind of have to come here if you want to get to anything scenic. Well, we have some cool stuff to see too, like the Sandhills, but it's more subtle to appreciate.

I don't know, I think the idea is problematic