But speaking of Minnesota and shades of left: I heard an interesting phrase, new to me — “light-blue state.” A prominent Minnesota politician described his state that way: a “light-blue state.” Blue, yes, meaning Democratic (and doesn’t it still rankle that they get to be blue, when it should be we who are blue, and they who are red?). But not all that “blue.”

And how do we describe states that are moderately or barely conservative? Pink (!)?