Mike Krzyzewski
Jim Anderson, candidate for the Kansas 4th District congressional seat, wanted to make a good showing in an online straw vote being run by KNSS radio.
So his campaign sent out an e-mail about 1 p.m. today to supporters, urging them to go to the station’s Web site and cast a vote for Anderson.
Nothing too unusual there.
But if you followed the link in the message, the list of names you were asked to vote on were financier Warren Buffett, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, newsman Tom Brokaw and Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski — none of whom are known to have expressed any interest whatsoever in representing Kansas in Congress.
Instead of linking to the KNSS straw poll, the e-mail had actually linked to Wichita Business Journal, which was in the process of asking its readers: “Who would you most like to see speak in Wichita?”
The Anderson campaign sent out a corrective e-mail with the right link about an hour later after an inquiry from, well, me. Campaign spokesman Shanen Taylor blamed the mixup on a computer glitch by a volunteer.
As of 2:43 p.m., Anderson and Mike Pompeo were tied for the lead in the KNSS straw vote with 37 percent each; Wink Hartman had 17 percent and Jean Schodorf and Paij Rutschman trailed with 4 percent each.
Bear in mind that online votes are structurally unsound as a gauge of public opinion. And the audience of KNSS — the Wichita radio home of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and a bevy of other conservative talk show hosts — likely skews pretty far to the right.
But it does look like sports fans are pretty thin on the ground in Biz Journal country.
Buffett was the runaway fave in the paper’s online vote with 33 percent; Gates and Jobs were tied at 16 percent each; Dungy and Brokaw were tied at 9 percent.
Coach Krzyzewski — winner of four NCAA basketball titles and a 2008 Olympic gold medal — was drawing only a 6 percent share.