Don't it turn my red states bluuuuuuue?

■"Saying Goodbye California Sun, Hello Midwest," by Motoko Rich and David Leonhardt, New York Times, 7 November 2005, p. A1.

■"A Tornado Rips South Indiana; At Least 22 Die," by Roger McBain and Christine Hauser, New York Times, 7 November 2005, p. A1.

So we're not the only people leaving the crowded, overpriced coasts!

I will confess: the house we now build would be prohibitively expensive for us back on the East Coast, and I don't even want to think about California on the coast (i.e., being as close to the ocean as we were in Rhode Island).

Of course, you leave one type of threat (earthquakes in CA, hurricanes in RI) and you face another (tornados in the Midwest).

But for me, that's an easy choice. Grew up with tornados. They're simply part of what I consider perfectly normal.

And it's nice to be in "Kansas" ever more.

The long-term impact of all these moves: do the red states turn pinker, even blue-ish ("Funny, you don't look blue-ish!" [name that movie, quick!])? Or do the people who move inland turn simply red (now there's a blue-eyed soul singer who could do justice to that tune)?