I have no idea what the "Democrat party" is.

Oh, that's easy...a silly, childish slur used by people who think that simple name-calling is a legitimate way to advance an argument...

I have no idea what the "Democrat party" is.

LOL.... Well, you just stick to that story, Rick.

When comparing Mississippi and Hawaii are we comparing "development" or race?

For those two states in particular I would guess it was more about race (and factors associated with same) than development. My point was that the factors including life span are not so uniform as was implied by the post.

Both Mississippi and Hawaii consistently come in at the bottom of the scale for standard of living in the US.

Depends on how you define standard of living. I much preferred living in HI to living in AL (pretty close to the same as MS).

I'd also suggest there is something of a difference between being a liberal stronghold and a Democrat party one, which is why I double clutched that in my original response.

I have no idea what the "Democrat party" is.

According to census projections the range of life expectancy by state ranges between 73.7 for Mississippi to 79.8 for Hawaii.

The life expectancy of African-Americans is about 73.1 and for whites it's 78.3. I couldn't find any comparable numbers for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, but they appear to have life expectancies in the eighties. When comparing Mississippi and Hawaii are we comparing "development" or race?

I couldn't find a partisan breakdown of the state legislature, but a Democratic stronghold, it sure ain't.

While your point is well taken, I'd point at NOLA. I'd also suggest there is something of a difference between being a liberal stronghold and a Democrat party one, which is why I double clutched that in my original response. As the party has moved left, they've been slowly losing power outside NOLA. Inside it.... well...

See, I suspect based on my short run down there years ago, that outside NOLA, they tend toward 'Democrat' in the 'southern democrat' mold, whereas NOLA seems to be unabashedly liberal. (Explains Ray Nagin, for example, and the city council, there, for that matter)

Admittedly, I haven't researched that point lately,(And as you point out, the local stuff isn't exactly easy to locate from our perspective) but then again, even with Katrina, I've never seen anything to cause me to think the assumption was in error, either.

Hmmm. Used to know a guy that worked at WWL. Wonder what ever happened to him, or if he's still there. Maybe I can tap him for some flavor on this.

It turns out that the “index” considers only three elements: Life expectancy at birth, Adult literacy and education, and a variant of GDP per capita. It turns out that the first two of these are so uniform across the 50 states as to be negligible, making the last the main determinant of the ranking.

According to census projections the range of life expectancy by state ranges between 73.7 for Mississippi to 79.8 for Hawaii. Is that so uniform as to be negligible?
According to the NCES the percent lacking basic prose literacy skills in MS is ~16% and is ~7% in Vermont. Again is this really so uniform as to be negligible.
Looking at education states range from TX's 78.3% HS graduation rate to MN's 92.3%. For college the range extends from WV's 16% with a BA or BS to MA's 37.4%. So I don't think they really qualify as being so uniform as to make differences negligible.
The study may be bunk, but apparently not because of the uniformity of life expectancy at birth, uniformity of education, or uniformity of adult literacy.

As odograph observes above, that may be fun but it's not useful for devising policy.

The cost of living adjustments do appear to tend to move states like Massachusetts down from 6th to 25 in GDP per capita rank.

Places like Louisiana, for example are certainly Democrat strongholds, but I would argue are never considered, even by liberals, to be among the liberal elite.

Silliness.

Consider the top 11 elected positions in LA: of the governor, lt. gov, 2 senators, 7 reps, 3 are Democrats - the lieutenant governor, 1 senator, 1 representative. LA also has not given its electoral votes to a Democratic presidential candidate since 1996, but voted Republican in 1988, 1984, and 1980.

I couldn't find a partisan breakdown of the state legislature, but a Democratic stronghold, it sure ain't.

Of course it's bunk. But since I'm in a dark green state I'm going to get a kick out of it.

Heh. Virginia's dark green, too, thanks mostly to NoVa. But it's still silly.