Best of Rhode Island 2008 Editors' Picks

We may not all be leftists, but Rhode Island has proven itself solidly Democratic for the last century. How do we know? Well, history has some say, but so does the local coffee shop. Blue State Coffee has developed quite a following at its liberal location of Thayer Street, not by espousing the Democratic philosophy but by living it. Ten percent of profits are given to charities chosen by customers (reversing the effects of global warming was in the top spot when last we looked), coffees are all organic and fair trade, and nearly all the non-edible products sold are made right here in the U.S. of A. It's hard to argue with those politics.