The ancestral ties and gubernatorial endorsement that link Barack Obama to Kansas aren’t positioning him to win its six electoral votes in November. A recent Rasmussen Reports poll showed John McCain favored to win the state 55 to 34 percent (despite having lost the Kansas GOP primary to Mike Huckabee by 36 points). And should Obama pick Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his running mate, only 28 percent of Kansans would be more inclined to vote for him, compared with 34 percent who said they’d be less likely to vote for an Obama-Sebelius ticket.
Yet in the same poll, 56 percent said Sebelius is doing an excellent or good job as governor; only 43 percent said the same for President Bush.
Here’s an interesting look at how a McCain-Obama matchup could affect the electoral map for November. Barack Obama is right that he potentially could redraw the presidential map and put red states such as Virginia and North Carolina in play for Democrats.
But John McCain has shake-up strengths, too, and a chance to steal several blue-leaning states such as Michigan and Wisconsin with his appeal to Reagan Democrats.
In the end, a close McCain-Obama election could come down to a handful of small states, such as Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico and Nevada — all of them narrowly won by President Bush in 2004, all of them now considered toss-ups.
The electoral map is in flux, and no one knows for sure what the new map is going to look like.
Here’s an idea that Kansans on both sides of the fight over a proposed Sunflower Electric Power Corp. coal-plant expansion ought to be able to get behind, now that it’s clear Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ latest veto will stand:
“I think what would be good news for the people of Kansas would be if Sunflower and the executive branch could sit down and start talking about real alternatives for meeting the base-load energy needs for western Kansas,†said state Rep. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City.
Unfortunately, Sunflower may just want to carry on the fight in court. “We remain committed to providing reliable electric generation and transmission services to our member owners in central and western Kansas, and the Holcomb expansion is part of that mission,†said Earl Watkins, Sunflower’s president and CEO, in a written response to legislators’ decision not to try again for a veto override.
Another reason to be optimistic about the future in Kansas: news of the creation of a Kansas Corps of college students who can be dispatched to help communities. “With a single phone call, this group could be mobilized to serve any area of the state,†Allie Crouse, a Wichita State University student, recently told the Kansas Board of Regents. She is among about 80 others who’ve spent 16 months planning the corps. At a recent trial run in Melvern, Kan., 50 students from six colleges built a hiking and biking trail on the site of a trash dump. No word from the regents as to whether they can oblige the group’s request to help with funding, starting in fiscal year 2010. But the Kansas Corps is an outstanding idea. Many student service groups already do great work around the state, but this one could be coordinated and deployed as needed. As Curt Brungardt, a professor at Fort Hays State University who is also involved, told the regents: “Think of the power of it.â€
The ancestral ties and gubernatorial endorsement that link Barack Obama to Kansas aren’t positioning him to win its six electoral votes in November. A recent Rasmussen Reports poll showed John McCain favored to win the state 55 to 34 percent (despite having lost the Kansas GOP primary to Mike Huckabee by 36 points). And should Obama pick Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his running mate, only 28 percent of Kansans would be more inclined to vote for him, compared with 34 percent who said they’d be less likely to vote for an Obama-Sebelius ticket.
