You're fat, out-of-shape, unhygienic, diabetic, depressed, disabled, over-taxed, over-regulated, over-litigated, over-medicated, uneducated, unskilled, child-abusing, child-neglecting and generally dirt poor.

You're ugly if you're a guy from Huntington. You sure know how to party if you're from Morgantown. And you're inbred no matter where you're from, according to the wisdom of a former vice president.

The above is the charming image anyone would take away if all he or she knew about West Virginia came from media stories, rankings and surveys. The state usually ranks last in polls it wants to rank first in and first in polls it wants to rank last. All in all, it adds up to a lot of bad publicity for the Mountain State.

How seriously can these reports be taken? In some cases, there really is fire where there's smoke, particularly with regard to health data. But others could be as much opinion as fact, and sometimes the organizations that produce them won't disclose just how they reached their conclusions.

Whatever the case, it has state officials on perpetual damage control.

"I hate the connotations and the perceptions that are out there, and we're fighting that every day," Gov. Joe Manchin said.

These days it seems a lot of people are bad-mouthing West Virginia. Forbes.com declared it one of the worst states in which to do business, as well as the state with the dirtiest environment. Business groups have labeled it a "judicial hellhole," where it is far too easy for trial lawyers to win large settlements for clients. Unions continue to point out it ranks near the bottom in terms of teacher and state employee pay.

The Princeton Review ranks West Virginia University as one of the top "party schools" in the nation, an unflattering ranking given to those institutions where students allegedly spend little time studying.

Most recently, the women's Web site TotalBeauty.com ranked Huntington as having some of the ugliest men in the nation, a conclusion reached in part on erotic entertainment sales in the city. ("No sex generally equals less hot guys," the authors claimed.)

Some of the above examples will never be accused of being scientific. However, there is plenty of credible data painting a grim picture of the state.

West Virginia is last in the nation in the percentage of college graduates, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. It's one of the most obese states in the nation. It leads in the number of diabetics, disabilities and people using and abusing prescription drugs. Its citizens' dental health is among the poorest in the nation. And a recent study concluded there were more cases of substantiated child abuse and neglect in West Virginia than most other states.

Tying them all together is the fact West Virginia is exceptionally poor, with only Mississippi families earning lower median incomes, according to the Census.

All that data points to real problems that people interviewed for this story said need to be addressed. But they also see focusing only on the negatives as a distraction from what they said are the state's many positives -- from its generally good quality of life to its relatively cheap cost of living.

"What I always recommend to a crisis client is you have to go out on the offense; you can't go on the defense," said Patrick Gallagher, CEO of Charles Ryan Associates, a public relations firm headquartered in Charleston.

Gallagher can't say whether the negative publicity has had any impact on the state in terms of attracting businesses, but he recounted his own experience in dealing with clients who had only driven through the state in the past. Once they had the chance to spend some time in West Virginia, they liked what they saw.

That's why he recommends winning people over by giving them firsthand experience with the Mountain State. It's a strategy also suggested by George Manahan of the Manahan Group, a public relations firm in Charleston. He would match out-of-state business people with people who already do business here so they could hear from someone about what West Virginia is like.

"Unless you had a good experience, or know someone who had a good experience and can tell you about it, those negative polls and statements can hurt the state," Manahan said.

Manchin also pointed to personal experience as key for improving the state's image. He noted Steve Forbes' recent visit to the state and the opportunity it provided local officials and business people to make their case against some of the portrayals of West Virginia in his publications.

"I take constructive criticism very well," Manchin said, adding he has contacted media outlets and other organizations when they have put out information portraying the state in a negative light.

"But I want you to be factual and accurate when you talk about us."