In March 2001, Maine lawmakers were – literally and figuratively – fed up. Obesity was recognized as a national epidemic, the costs in health care dollars and just plain health were staggering and Maine was wheezing along in the middle of the national out-of-shape pack. The Healthy State House Challenge, with teams of portly Republicans, plump Democrats and paunchy independents competing in the arena of sensible diet and moderate exercise, would set just the good example the public needed.

Set an example it did. Unfortunately, the example the public needed was not of how easily an important issue can be trivialized. The Healthy State House Challenge lasted exactly one day – just long enough for everybody to get their picture in the paper and on the evening news – and has not been heard from since.

These days, the issue is treated much more seriously. In four states so far, lawsuits have been filed against the fast-food industry on behalf of plaintiffs claiming themselves victims of a burger and fries conspiracy. Several states are considering nursing their malnourished budgets back to health by imposing taxes on junk food. These steps undoubtedly will create another found of arguments on just how far government should go in running people’s lives.

But none of these is what is needed right now. Recent federal reports put the national increase in obesity during the last decade at 60 percent with the greatest percentage increase among kids and at a health care cost in 2000 of $117 billion. It gets worse. Type 2 diabetes, the lifestyle type that results from obesity and lack of exercise and that leads to heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and amputation is, according to the Centers for Disease Control, a full-blown epidemic with, again, shocking increases among the young. More than 70,000 Mainers have this disease; the cost to the state economy is estimated at more than $500 million a year.

Anything that sucks a half-billion dollars out of the Maine economy every year and that can be largely prevented and successfully managed should be a major issue in election season. As the campaigns for governor and the Legislature get fully underway, the economy will dominate the debate. The ruinous cost of health care – both coverage for employees and loss of productivity – is firmly established as the No. 1 concern of business. There is little doubt that the fierce competition waged among states for business attraction and expansion, long fought with tax breaks and other such incentives, in the end will be won by the states most able to deliver a healthy workforce.

The wonderful thing about this problem is that those seeking public office won’t find the answer by blaming foreign competition, excessive government regulation, greedy corporations or any of the other usual suspects. This will call for innovative thinking, straight talk and impressive powers of persuasion – a nourishing diet that leaves no room for empty calories.