Chicago - Perhaps the best hope for finding the billions of dollars experts say it will take to restore and preserve the deep blue waters of the Great Lakes is the fact that they are surrounded by purple states. the presidential election less than 14 months away, Great Lakes advocates should capitalize on the fact that five of the eight states bordering the world's largest freshwater system are designated as key battlegrounds, a media consultant told a group of about 250 conservationists, scientists and business leaders that gathered in Chicago this week for the third annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference