Left vs. Right: Kansas and Illinois

So I read blogs on both the left and the right. Different worlds, man. Different worlds...
   Here's one thing: liberals and conservatives are obsessed with the failure of different states. Liberals are obsessed with Kansas. Conservatives are obsessed with Illinois. Plenty of leftish types believe that Kansas is wrecked, and that conservative policies did it. Plenty of rightish types believe that Illinois is wrecked, and that liberal policies did it. (Needless to say, these positions are not mutually exclusive...)
   I don't have any position at all about either Kansas or Illinois. I've tended to just absorb the view that Kansas is f*cked because that's the word among people I'm used to agreeing with. But I really don't have any idea what's going on.
   But it does give us a kind of a little empirical test of which side is more delusional... I just don't know what the evidence indicates.