Despite the Blagojevich feeding frenzy, Illinois is NOT the most corrupt state in the union, at least according to a USA Today story that puts our neighbor to the west at the top of the crookedest states list. “On a per-capita basis,” the paper writes, “Illinois ranks 18th for the number of public corruption convictions the federal government has won from 1998 through 2007.” In that time frame, the Land of Lincoln saw 502 convictions for a rate of 3.9 per 100,000 residents. North Dakota convicted 53 of its 639,715 residents for a rate of 8.3 citizens per 100,000 convicted — a deceptive figure that’ll likely be met with a stern press release by NoDak tourism officials. Minnesota, for the record, has had a squeaky-clean 1.3 convictions per 100,000 citizens between ‘98 and ‘07 (just a tenth of a percent higher than Iowa’s conviction figure).

Wonkette gets its digs in on the “esteemed statistical clearinghouse,” USA Today, coming to North Dakota’s defense:

[O]ne arrives at this metric by dividing the number of political corruption convictions in the past ten years by the number of residents. Thus, low-population states with normal-sized governments are disproportionately “corrupt,” as evidenced by the shameful badge of corruption affixed to neighboring South Dakota and Montana. Meanwhile, the truly corrupt states (Rhode Island, anyone?) emerge a shade better, because they never bother to arrest, or god forbid convict, their political criminals. Instead, they elect them Mayor of Providence.