Give Gov. Sarah Palin her due. Then talk about what she didn’t say.
That was Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ approach this morning in a conference call with reporters.
The money line: “Again last night what we heard was a lot of partisan attacks and no real solutions.”
What was missing? Read More
DENVER — As Barack Obama took the stage at Invesco Field on the final night of the Democratic National Convention, Larry Wilson quietly said, “This is it, this is the night, this is the change. Thank you God. Thank you.”
Wilson, an African-American from Topeka, wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular. But a few moments later, he talked with a reporter about how he felt as he watched the first African-American presidential candidate from either major party accept the Democratic nomination.
He said he saw it as a victory not just for African Americans, but for Americans.
“Look around,” he said, gesturing to the crowd of 75,000 filling nearly every seat in the stadium where the Denver Broncos play their home games. “You see people of all colors and sizes. This is what America looks like.”
There may be a little bit of Obama in Wichita tonight — and we’re not just talking about a televised speech from Denver. State Sen. Donald Betts, who’s in race against Congressman Todd Tiahrt, plans to introduce a member of Sen. Barack Obama’s family at an Obama speech watch party at Torre’s Pizzeria (131 N. Rock Island in Old Town) around 7:30 p.m. tonight, Betts’ campaign manager, Lisa Reiss, said this afternoon.
Reiss wouldn’t say who. But Obama’s El Dorado rally earlier this year gives a possible hint. Margaret McCurry Wolf is the first cousin of Obama’s grandmother. And Obama’s grandfather is Stanley Dunham, was raised in El Dorado, and his grandmother, Madelyn Payne, grew up in Augusta. Obama never lived in Kansas. For more, check out The Eagle’s previous coverage… Read More
DENVER — One Bush doesn’t equal another, U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore told Kansas delegates to the Democratic National Convention here.
At the daily delegation breakfast, Moore said he felt that President George H. W. Bush, although he was from the other party and had different ideas, had been an honorable opponent and thoughtful leader of the country.
“The first President Bush, I didn’t agree with him on everything, (but) he was a real president, you know what I mean,” Moore said. “This son is a different story.”
Read More
DENVER — “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” is Dan Glickman’s favorite political film.
Glickman views that from a unique perspective. He also went to Washington, as a U.S. representative from Wichita in the 1970s and 1980s, and as agriculture secretary during the Clinton Administration. He’s now the chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America.
In a speech to members of the Kansas delegation to the Democratic National Convention, he said the country needs to return to the kind of idealism depicted in the classic Jimmy Stewart film.
In the movie, the young Stewart plays a honest but naive freshman senator who battles political corruption at the Capitol.
“Go back and see it again,” Glickman said.
“What we have to do is to try to restore the confidence of the American people that the system is on the level.”
Throughout the Democratic National Convention, Jason Dilts has been sort of Sedgwick County’s delegate-without-portfolio.
Dilts, executive director of the county Democratic Party, came to Denver with no credentials and no formal standing at the convention.
But that hasn’t stopped him from participating in it.
On Tuesday, someone lent him a pass so he could be on the floor when Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Sen Hillary Clinton made their speeches. Dilts is a big fan of both. Read More
Now that speculation on whether Gov. Kathleen Sebelius would be nominated for vice president is over, the period of speculation begins over whether she will get a cabinet post if Barack Obama wins the presidency in November.
And Sebelius is deftly deflecting questions about her future plans, as she did during the veepstakes that concluded Saturday with Obama picking Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate.
She said today she has had no discussions with Obama about a possible role in his administration if he should win. Read More
CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Kansas delegates to the Democratic National Convention took some time off from politics Wednesday to help sick people half a world away.
For their share of the Democrats’ 50-delegation public service project, they sorted medical equipment and packed shipping cartons for Project Cure, a nonprofit group that collects surplus health supplies and sends them to developing countries where such items are badly needed.
Although the primary purpose of the two-hour event was to showcase the party’s commitment to public service, Michael Young, the operations manager for the Denver chapter of Project Cure, said the delegates’ efforts were more than a publicity stunt. Read More
What do party conventions mean these days when the nominee is all but locked in weeks or months before the Big Party?
Not a whole lot, but they do have some importance, says Ken Ciboski, a political science professor at Wichita State University. 
“…oftentimes these parties will, at the conventions then, tout individuals who are going to be future candidates, maybe for president or maybe somebody who is running for the Senate, and they are going to be big politicos for the party in the future,” he said in a podcast on WSU’s web site. Read More
“I wanted it to be Obama/Sebelius, but they figured at least one name
had to pass spell check.”
– North Carolina Gov. Mike Easly, joking with Kansas delegates about Obama selecting Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate instead of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
—————
A pair of longtime Ohio Democratic activists say the Kansas governor definitely would have brought some positive name recognition in their critical swing state, where Obama lost to Hillary Clinton in the primary. Read More
