Denver - Social scientists, say Colorado boosters, have plausible metrics identifying their state as the happiest and healthiest state, the former quality perhaps producing the latter. Or the other way around. Or maybe the tangle of causation cannot be unwoven. Be that as it may, 300 days of sunshine — this Mile High City is practically cheek-by-jowl with the sun — entice people into outdoor activities that help the state have chubby America’s lowest obesity rate.
Among the least happy and healthy Colorado cohorts is the Republican Party, which is less svelte than emaciated. This state is in many ways a glimpse of the nation's future, so when national Republicans are done congratulating themselves on having lost only the most important half of what the Constitution's Framers considered the most important branch — Congress is accorded Article I for a reason — they should study Colorado's changing tint, from purple toward blue.