NY, CA, and WA might have ports and things, but to suggest that the people that inhabit those states are even capable of fighting their way out of a wet paper bag is laughable.
All it would take would be 10 flights per day out of McChord AFB and Washington state could take over just about everything west of the Mississippi river!
And lets not talk about Bangor... or Bremerton, where they park some serious naval assets.
If Washington was a country, it would be like the 8th largest military in the world...
Of the 10 largest ports by tonnage, Texas has four of them (#s 2,3,5,and 8) Louisiana has three of them (#s 1, 6, and 9), California one (#4), W.Virginia (# 7), and Alabama, (#10), so ports are available to the South.