Day487 Thursday 12/29/11

ran 3.5 miles
Three more states to go. Here are some stats and facts about the state of West Virginia (to check out stats and facts about more states click on “states of the union” on the right):

• West Virginia was the thirty-fifth state to join the union on June 20, 1863, one year before Nevada and two years after Kansas.

• Population, as of 2010, is 1,852,994.

• Senators are Joe Manchin (D) and John Rockefeller (D).

• Representatives are David McKinley (R), Shelley Capito (R), and Nick Rahall (D).

• West Virginia has five electoral votes. An interesting fact about West Virginia is that the state seceded from Virginia after Virginia had seceded from the union during the Civil War. Historically, West Virginia has voted blue 20 out of the last 37 presidential elections, but red for the last three elections. The state historically swings from red to blue but is expected to lean Republican in 2012. In 2008, McCain defeated Obama 56% to 43%.

And here is a little something extra. While certain states exhibit their sovereign interests in slowing down the gates of illegal immigration, Barack Obama has established a hotline for illegal immigrants to call for help if they were so unlucky as to be apprehended. The hotline exists for detainees to call in case they may be U.S. citizens and not realize it or in the event that they feel they were victims of a crime. Here is the story.

598.9 miles to go.

Here is what happened one year ago on Day122.