With very few exceptions, the worst thing one could attach to any given state is one - but often two - United States Senators.
Think Boxer/Feinstein, Klobuchar/Franken, Murray/Cantwell, Shumer/Gillibrand, Grassley/Harkin, Leahy/Sanders, Snowe/Collins, Hutchison/Cornyn.... Those are just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are other gruesome-twosomes that didn't pop to the front of my mind. Then take all the states with one piece of sh*t senator....
It's as if you couldn't find a deeper, broader cesspool of mediocrity. It's the greatest collection of character deficit outside a penitentiary. The US Senate is the depository of Peter Principle politicians, and because of the people attracted to the office, the body makes the United States worse.