Never mind what voter registration numbers say about Kansas. Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has easily won a second term, thanks to her crossover appeal to moderate Republicans and the weak challenge by state Sen. Jim Barnett of Emporia. Now Sebelius needs to spend some of the political capital she earned at the polls on moving the state further forward. That will mean reaching out more to the GOP-controlled Legislature and being more vocal and visible.
As for the Kansas Republican Party: It still hasn’t learned the lesson of the 2002 election, which was that Democrats can and will capitalize on its ideological split.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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29 Comments
aaaaaaaaaaahh poor Rhonda, I hear Ken Melman needs solace…
Kansas is more blue than you think…
We made a turn in the right direction tonight.
Or maybe a turn away from the far right direction…either way, Kansans win!
Yee haw, the hag will make Kansas safe for raping, gang-joining, drunk driving wetbacks for another few years. Go Dems Go!!!
V.L.R.B!!!
Quick trivia question: When was the last time in which a sitting Democrat Governor in Kansas lost in a re-election bid?
That would be in 1960 (46 years ago), when Democrat George Docking, after serving two two-year terms, lost a bid for a third term to Republican John Anderson.
Now for a follow-up trivia question: How many times since 1960 has a sitting Kansas Republican Governor lost a re-election bid to a Democrat? There have been three such elections:
William Avery to Robert Docking (1966)Robert Bennett to John Carlin (1978)Mike Hayden to Joan Finney (1990)
Bottom line: The re-election of Kathleen Sebelius yesterday is in no way miraculous, no matter how Republican this state is perceived to be.
It looks to me like Jim Barnett more or less threw the governor’s race by not trying very hard. His poor effort makes me wonder if he really wanted the job.
JWink, maybe it has something to do with the heinous susan wagle?
Maybe part time jim just couldnt stand the thought of serving with her for for years? I mean, as whacked as she is now, how do you think she would be with a little power.
Uh, I think it is ok to say I told ya so? You r’s pulled the wingnut lever and nominated the nuttiest residents of wingnuttia you could find, and then they went even farther right. Like phillllllll.
heheheheheheheheheheh
…and jwink, it’s time now to get out the hammer and tongs and get midevil on this governor about water policy, no?
Ksfarmgrl: Who was that Republican candidate from out in western Kansas, (town of Healy?) who lost out in the primary?
Would he have been a better Republican candidate? I would think he would have been very concerned about water issues and western Kansas economy.
As a moderate Republican, I watched for an opportunity to meet Jim Barnett but never saw him. And I have known most Kansas governors at least slightly, except John Carlin, since Docking I.
CNN quoted by saying that Kansas may very well become a Blue state.
Key republicans lost last night.. Including Ryun, who had endorsement from (curse) Bush.
The endorsement really didn’t help him. It was time for a change in Washington, and now we’ve got it.
Lets give the democrats a fighting chance to show us what they can do. The republicans sure showed us.. War, Inflation, Overspending, Lies, Cheats. Ok the lies and cheats apply to both parties, but i’m sure you are getting the point here.
“His poor effort makes me wonder if he really wanted the job.”
JWink,Your party failed Barnett. He had very little money. The best kept secret of this campaign was that Barnett would have been a good governor. KFG sums up my sentiments on good ole Susan. Adding her to the ticket was a BIG mistake.
Ian, making it an acronym doesn’t make you clever by the way.
Anyway, Kansas showed its might last night. We may very well be a blue state by the end of the decade… If we aren’t already.
Go Sebelius!
Jwink, Robin Jennison is a crooked bastard, but he is great on water policy.
We’re stuck with governor leadership. It is up to US to make water an important issue. She is going to ignore it as long as possible so she doesnt have to referee between irrigators, corn growers, recreational and municipal water users, etc.
SHE isnt going to make water an issue. She doesnt want light shined on the Hays/Cedar Bluff fiasco. Or on Steve Irsik or Joe Harkins, Kansas’ own darth cheney.
It will be up to US to make sane water policy and wise usage a top priority for Kansas. Our future, that is, the future of ALL of Kansas depends on it.
Put her feet to the fire and hold them there. It is the ONLY way to get the third rail of kansas politics the attention it deserves.
What say wink? I’m rummaging in my tool box for that damn hammer right now…..
Oh, and the next prediction from my crazy eight ball?
Derick Schmidt will start HIS campaign for governor today. Look for him to grandstand and oppose the dems on every single issue.
We’ll see if he is smart enough to stay away from the wingnut taint. That is the challenge to the ksgop. Are you gonna work FOR the state? are you gonna work WITH the dems? Do you want to WIN a few in two years?
Then boot the wingnuts. Let them form their “all religion all fetuses” political party. Contain the damage from their smell of sulfer.
Otherwise?
heheheheh. Road kill.
I agree that the Religious Right did the KS GOP in yesterday. Hopefully these religious nutjobs will break away and form their own little perfect world somewhere and call it Jesusland.
I’ve got the perfect place for them, let’s give them Texas and then when George W. goes home - they will all be together and have to put up with the illegal immigrants crossing the border on a daily basis.
Now that would be my idea of Heaven on earth.
KFG- I’m ignorant regarding the water issue in you area. It seems from what you have said, there is a hell of a problem being ignored or mishandled or both.Is this affecting your cafe, and is it true the ketchup there is blue?
heheheheh
no the ketchup is red, but the mayo is blue from time to time….
I need to get back to work on the water stuff and get it written so people can understand it.
Yes, it is a HELL of a problem out here, and it affects me and mine not only on my farm but at the cafe.
When the water is gone, the farmers are gone, and the fishermen have to go out of state for their bass tournaments again, that all hurts my business.
The water problem is headed east. Shit AND water run downhill, so the problem is moving east. All the asswipes in Ellsworth county who thought it was just fine for Hays to drain Cedar Bluff are now whining about Salina and Macpherson wanting to put big straws in Kanopolis.
What goes around comes around. How much help do you think Kanopolis will get from us Cedar Bluffers?
Heheheh. You guessed it. As much as they gave us. NONE.
Water wars will tear this state apart and there will be no winners, only losers, as long as governor leadership ducks the problem and uses water as political currency.
And have you noticed how many new ethanol plants are planned? In the ARK RIVER BASIN? heheh. Your water wont even make it to Wichita. We’ll be pumping it on the corn and into our cars. I guess you will just have to drink cake.
I’ll try to pull more stuff together. But mark my words, the next gov will HAVE to deal with less than chatty kathy’s lack of leadership on the water issue.
I hope you all like paying for bottled water….
Oh and three more words for those who use the Ark River….
Circle C Ranch.
Look it up.
KFG - you might not be aware that Sebelius did not receive endorsement from the local Sierra Club. The reasons are water and energy. Let’s just hope that her second term sees action in those areas.
By the way, are you familiar with the Enhanced CREP in the Upper Ark basin? Maybe that will help some.
Well, stalled as long as I can - I just have too damn much overtime these days … bye till later …
kfg has identified again the major issue facing this state in the near term; water, or more precisely, access to potable water in sufficient quantities. One factor which must be addressed, sooner rather than later,is irrigation. Another is the flow of water in Arkansas River; is Colorado meeting its obligations on the amount of water it withdraws from the river as it flows through that state into Kansas?
Another issue is recreational use of reservoirs. Like it or not, the increasing number of boats, jet skis, etc., together with increased use of the areas surrounding reservoirs by folks for recreational purposes increases pollution of drinking water sources. We can live without our jet skis; life requires water.
“We can live without our jet skis; life requires water.”
But what about the oh so sacred cow of economic development? Business development? Governor leadership reasssures the users of a lake in EASTERN kansas that she will not favor municipal water over rec water.
That is in DIRECT opposition to what she and john bird did in allowing hays to drain cedar bluff. And russell’s ethanol plant water usage trumps all. Now that they see there isnt enough water in Cedar Bluff to satisfy the ethanol plant owners, they turn their eyes to post rock rural water district to get their fix from Kanopolis.
The kwo is already working with commerce to encourage residential development around kansas lakes. That causes FAR more pollution than jet skis and bass boats.]
Who will take on the economic development lobby? Recreation and outdoor sporting are BIG economic engines in kansas and especially in western kansas.
So talk about e.d. all you want. You cant cut out recreation and still have development around the lakes.
Might it be too much to hope that SOMEONE in this state realizes that economic development, as it is practiced in kansas, is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the taxpayers?
Naaaaaawwwwwww.It’ll never happen.
Rhonda–
Correction: FORMER red state.
We now have a Dem Gov., a Dem AG, and two out of four Dem Congressional Reps.
Kathleen’s big margin win will get the attention of Howard Dean and Rham Emanuel….she may be a player in two years.ORShe will take over Browncrack’s Senate seat.Brownback and Tiarht have lost their bully pulpit.How nice. I wish they would both go see the Lord.
Jim G.
You assume they’ll be going up and not down, hehehe?
DEMOCRATS TAKE THE HOUSE AND PROBABLY THE SENATE!
RIGHT-WINGERS LOSE BIG!
RUMSFELD RESIGNS!
YEEEEHAAAH!!!
Let America be America again . . .
Visible and vocal Rhonda? You are dreaming. Not having a single controversial incident much less a scandal is a large part of why she got re-elected. She will stay in the dark and basically do nothing as long as she has ambition for higher office.
hehehe PM that’s why we call her “governor leadership”….
Well then, Democrats and actual liberals should be happy KFG. You wanted nothing. . .and you got it.
I agree that water will become a major issue this coming year. As for the recreational and development lakes, the KWO can’t seem to get it right. If the market determines that development opportunity exists, then development will happen.
Around federal lakes it’s almost non-existent. Why? Because the feds control the shoreline and people want to have access to the water. Development occurs around those lakes in Kansas that do allow shoreline development. Council Grove city lake, Anthony city lake, and countless others prove the point.
The KWO study was commissioned because of an effort in south central Kansas to ask the state to consider constructing a multi-purpose lake in the Wichita area. The lake would have served as a future water supply to Wichita; would provide recreational opportunities that are non-existent in the area; allowed development of second homes and vactional homes that are now being built in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas; and furthered economic development in this area.
Contrary to what you may think, a lake that is master-planned can address all aspects of maintaining water quality for drinking purposes, recreational opportunities, and provide shoreline development. Most lakes until now have been constructed for utilitarian purposes such as flood control. Development was never a consideration and to the extent it did occur, it wasn’t well planned. Well it can be and there are examples around the nation that demonstrate it.
You dems are celebrating now. I am too a little because now you’re in power and we’ll all finally get to see that you have no clue what to do with it except raise taxes and appease terrorists. It will be hilarious to see your people fail in Washington. And Kansas will never be a blue state. All our pathetic gov. is going to do is making us the laughing stock of the nation- once again!
gopgirl
Fail as opposed to what successes of the last 12 years of a Republican Congress and six years of total control of the government …. let’s add em up
1. Deficit at an all time high.2. Foreign Trade`deficit at an all time high.3. Osama Bin Laden still vacationing in Pakistan.4. 2,800 soldiers dead because we are fighting a war on terror in Iraq — while the terrorist was in Afghanistan.5. GWB is looking for wmd in the rose garden.6. Unparralleled corruption in Congress. One former GOP leader indicted for money laundering and campaign finance violations, 2 GOP congressmen in or on their way to jail …. and more to come.7. Hypocritic scandal of a GOP Congressman chasing pages and the GOP leadership tap dance and finger point.8. Led 4 consecutive Congressional sessions of doing absolutely nothing — and bragging about it.9. GOP Congress thwarting of any investigation of into the scandals of war profiteering, costing billions and lives.10. Failure of any ethics reform.11. Failure at Immigration Reform.12. Medicare prescription plan that favors Drug Companies, and costing billions more if a bulk buying resolution were passed.13. Fiscal rape of the middle class.14. Promised an energy plan to relieve us of dependence on foreign oil — and totally abandoned the idea, in favor of big oil and big car makers.
You must be the GOP answer to Monica (call me KNEE PAD) Lewinsky.
Seems a Democratic failure might be a step up …but that won’t happen — the new leadership will work to unite Congress with the America that has been abandoned for 12 years .
.. yes, unfortunatley they will probably take away any tax breaks you’ve been enjoying at the expense of the rest of the country — but along the way they will balance the budget (they had to after Reagan and Bush 1, also) , work on ethics reform, develop an energy policy, work to find our old allies that have abandon us, fix the immigration issue — and on and on —
so ……….. off your knees little girl, no need to beg for mercy —
… and explain to me how a woman would allow a political party limit her right to choose …….. anything ………….