The Minnesota Independent reports on correspondence between Senators Al Franken and Mark Begich (D-Alaska).  Begich pleaded with Franken to added Alaska and Hawaii to his freehand drawing of the United States.  Politico has posted PDFs of the correspondence between the two statesmen.  Al Franken described his limitations to the 48 states:

First of all, let me be clear that I am very well aware that Alaska and Hawaii are states. It’s just that when I was a child, my parents gave me a wood puzzle-map of the United States, which then included only the forty-eight contiguous states.

It wasn’t until years later, sometime in the early to middle sixties, I believe, that Hawaii and Alaska became full-fledged members of the union. Please know that I have assigned a staffer to get me the hard data on this.

Anyway, the point is, I learned only the forty-eight states on the wooden puzzle given to me by my hard-working parents. To include Alaska and Hawaii, while certainly common-sensical, would, I am afraid, dishonor the memory of both my mom and dad.

However, since you are a colleague that is a sacrifice I’m only too happy to make.

The resulting updated map: