JACKSON -- Give Republican presidential  hopeful Mitt Romney credit.

Normally, the state, because of the high numbers of bad categories where we are first, such as highest poverty rate, highest obesity rate, highest teen pregnancy rate, highest infant mortality rate and so many more, we often must endure ridicule from snobs from other parts of the country.

But during a visit to the Gulf Coast in advance of Tuesday's party primary elections in Mississippi, Romney said, "If the federal government were run more like the government here in Mississippi, the whole country would be a lot better off."