Partyblog 2010

Oletha Faust-Goudeau gets a consolation hug from supporter Mike Baggett.

The party at an office near 13th and Hydraulic appeared to have been rocking earlier, but by the time I arrived, it had quieted down.

Just as I walked in, Oletha Faust-Goudeau learned that she’ d lost her bid for the District 4 County Commission seat. She was hugging supporters and vowing to continue working for jobs and other causes she believes in in the Kansas Senate.

Sharing her party, which featured lots of fried chicken, dips and sweets, was Rep. Gail Finney, who convincingly won re-election in District 84. She quietly sipped champagne but was  muted in her celebration. That’s just who she is, she said.

“If Oletha hadn’t been having this party, I’d be home in my basement sipping champagne,” she said.

Jason Dilts, left, Lyndsay Stauble and Dan Manning await election results at a party at Rain.

Democratic Kansas House candidate Dan Manning’s campaign got pretty heavy when he received a death threat earlier this summer. Manning, who’s openly gay, found the threat clipped to his apartment door in August.

But his election night party, which by 8 p.m. had attracted about 40 friends and supporters to downtown bar Rain, was anything but heavy. Manning and Co. snacked on taquitos and veggies while watching election results on a computer screen.

Among the notable Wichitans present: City Council candidate Jason Dilts; Bert Pearce, the president of Wichita Pride; and Lyndsay Stauble, the director of the Sedgwick County Democratic Party.

Manning, who’s running against Republican incumbent Brenda Landwehr, hadn’t seen any results yet. But regardless of the outcome, he planned to party late into the night, grateful just to have had the chance to run.

“Aside from the long hours, it’s been a great experience,” he said, “a very humbling experience.”

This is the new picture photo editor Brian Corn took for this blog this afternoon, apparently after someone realized they still had the picture from 2008, which is in the header of this blog.

I think this one’s nicer, don’t you? My how we’ve improved since 2008.

The numbers coming in over the television aren’t good for Robert Tillman, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, District 4.

But the etouffee is. Tillman and a collection of friends and relatives are gathered now at his spacious Beacon Hill home, playing dominoes, snacking on catered etouffee, greens and cobbler and enjoying themselves despite the results.

Juanita Blackmon, a candidate for Sedgwick County commissioner, also is at the party and also isn’t seeing election returns in her favor but she did see a lot of “smiles and positive energy” at the party — a nice consolation, she said.

Tillman, far left, and Blackmon, fourth from left, watch election returns with friends at Tillman’s Beacon Hill home.

The first problem with Mike Pompeo’s party ginormous throw down at the Comotara Banquet Hall at 2929 N. Rock Road is that you can’t find a parking place.

The second problem is that, once you get inside, the place is so packed that you can’t find a spot to stand.

Of course, that’s no problem at all for Pompeo supporters, a well-heeled crowd noshing on Corporate Caterer’s catering (finger sandwiches on rye, cheese platter, spinach and artichoke dip, etc.) and cheering as television screens flash poll results that are favoring their guy so far.

The room is filled with more than 300 supporters wearing “I Like Mike” stickers, sipping adult beverages (from a cash bar) and collecting I Like Mike tchotchkes — maracas, licorice sticks, tambourines, etc.

The candidate himself is not here. Depending on which report you believe, he’s home watching returns and resting up for a triumphant return later tonight, or he’s out hopping other election night parties.

Either way, his supporters are getting down and soon will be able to get down to the sounds of a live rock band — Derrick and the Shale Shankers.

One of the attendees is Ken Jarvis, who’s driven Pompeo’s “Pompeo Express” Winnebago through parades and meet-and-greets for the past five months.

“I like his integrity,” he said. “When I first started visiting with him, he sat down and talked to me for an hour.”